


Rather be a lover than a fighter

by Jora_hamiltrash7777



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), Big Brother Uchiha Itachi, Danzo dies painfully, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff, Itachi doesn't trust Danzo to leave his brother alone, Itachi says fuck this, Naruto being a good bro, Orochimaru Being Orochimaru (Naruto), Orochimaru was corrupted by Danzo, Parental Hatake Kakashi, Protective Uchiha Itachi, Strong Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Itachi Being a Good Brother, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, Uchiha Sasuke Needs a Hug, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, all the senseis are friends and gossip about their kids-, and exposes danzo, everything is platonic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 31,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jora_hamiltrash7777/pseuds/Jora_hamiltrash7777
Summary: Itachi had mentally tortured Sasuke when his otouto was merely 7. Now, after the failed Kyuubi retrieval mission, Itachi can't get Sasuke's screams out of his head. Was he really doing Sasuke a favor or was he just sending his formerly sunny brother into a dark path that Sasuke couldn't really handle.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 98
Kudos: 258





	1. Cracks and Screams

“TEME!,” Naruto screamed, leaping forth and catching Sasuke’s lean body as the frog muscles retreated and let go of the Uchiha. Behind the blonde, Jiraiya packed the scroll containing the weird black flames and watched in mild disgust as he took in the rapidly darkening bruises gracing Sasuke’s pale neck.

“Ero Sennin! What should we do?” Naruto called. For once Jiraiya didn’t object to the name the brat had given him. He was too busy trying to figure out the answer to the question Naruto had asked.

It wasn’t worth chasing after Kisame and Itachi now...not when the two were already so far away and Sasuke was clearly in dire need of medical attention.

Jiraiya moved forth to further assess the Uchiha’s injuries and shouted when a foot suddenly collided with his arm. With a war cry, Might Gai zipped forward and attacked.

“Ehhh, Intense Brow Sensei!?” Naruto called. “What’re you doin’ to Ero Sennin!?”

Gai let out a nervous laugh when he realized exactly who he had attacked. “Ah, in a fit of youthful passion I feared Master Jiraiya was the enemy!”

“Tch, never mind that now,” Jiraiya snapped, “take him back to the village, he needs medical attention.”

Gai finally looked down and cringed when he caught sight of Sasuke. Kakashi would murder him when he found out he had let his student chase after a S-rank criminal who happened to have a S-class partner with him.

The bruises on Sasuke looked even more horrendous on his silky pale skin, one of wrists were turned awkwardly-clearly broken-and Gai didn’t need to guest if Sasuke had broken ribs or not considering the boys choppy breathing.

“What exactly happened here?” Gai asked hurriedly as he easily hoisted Sasuke and secured the unconscious boy over his back. Jiraiya frowned and stared out the hole Itachi had blasted into the wall. 

“Itachi used Tsukuyomi on him.” Jiraiya reported, “there’s a chance he’s in a coma.”

Gai frowned, the same technique Itachi used on Kakashi? There was no way Itachi was that cruel as to put his own baby brother through that mental hell. But then again considering what the elder Uchiha had done to his own clan...

“Ero Sennin…” Naruto started. He stared at Sasuke’s vulnerable form secured on Gai’s back and exhaled harshly.

Sasuke had been kinder in the past weeks. Probably due to the Konoha 12 grouping together into an overall group as a means to improve teamwork and hone their powers. Sakura and Ino’s friendship had rekindled, Shino and Hinata spoke more, Sasuke and Neji had started a tentative friendship, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba and Naruto goofed off like the Academy days, and TenTen and Lee passed their taijutsu and weaponry skills along eagerly.

Things had been so much better, less tense and encouraged by each team’s sensei.

But in the low lighted hallway, Sasuke had looked as hateful and furious as he did before the chunin exams. The Uchiha’s chidori crackled brighter than ever before and Naruto had damn near suffocated in the oppressive heat Sasuke gave off as his fire chakra swirled violently when Sasuke had charged down the hall with more killer intent than Naruto thought he possessed.

But Itachi just caught it. And the snap that followed echoed through the hall and straight into the deepest parts of Naruto’s memory. Sasuke had grunted, a yelp of pain hitching in his throat but not quite escaping.

A back and forth between Naruto and Kisame, and sooner than the blonde could notice his best friend was held up a wall by one of Itachi’s graceful hands. The screams came soon after.

How the hell was he going to explain to their friends that Sasuke’s brother was a psycho, mass murderer that could stop dangerous attacks with one hand and cause the most stoic person Naruto knew...to scream.

The girls would be horrified, the boys would demand an explanation Naruto couldn’t fully give them, Kaka-Sensei-

What would Kakashi say!?

The silver haired jonin had been a lot more protective ever since Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had come out of the Forest of Death looking like hell.

“One of his lungs must be pierced.” Jiraiya noted, watching the slow trail of blood continue to drip from Sasuke’s mouth.

Gai nodded once more before shooting off.

How the hell would he explain this to the rest of the kids? To Kakashi?


	2. Tsunade-hime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsunade is hopeful, Orchimaru tries to squash memories, and Jiraiya sees Minato and Kushina in Naruto's eyes.

Tsunade glowered at the insolent brat before her. Who did this tiny genin think he was, challenging her and talking about Hokage's position so passionately. It was a fool's position and she had come to learn that the hard way.

But he bounced with the same passion Nawaki once had, and his eyes gleamed with the same will of fire Dan had fought with.

"You were hokage-jiji's student 'ttebayo!" The brat- Naruto- shouted.

Hokage-jiji? He must mean Sarutobi-sensei. And he was dead.

Another reason- excuse- Tsunade had to decline the position of hokage.

"And my friends," Naruto's voice lowered considerably, his sky toned eyes softening with an expression Tsunade only saw when people spoke of their closest comrades. "My friends need your help 'ttebayo."

Fine. If the brat really wanted her help, he would prove it to her.

"Master that jutsu in a week and you've got yourself a deal brat." Tsunade snapped and walked on unsteady heels back to Shizune and TonTon.

Naruto started. Had the slug sannin offered a deal? Master the Rasengan in a week? Well he already had the basics down...

"You got it!" Naruto shouted at the woman's back. He didn't spare a glance at Jiraiya as he tore off to the secluded area on the outskirts of the tourist town.

Sasuke might not wake up and Lee was still confined to crutches despite the boy's insistence to teach Taijutsu to the newly formed Konoha 12.

His best friend was stuck in his own head and this drunken gambler- the best healer in all of the five nations- was his only shot.

There was no way in hell Naruto was gonna lose this bet.

**********************  
Tossing his neck irritably, Orochimaru stared at his black arms. A product of the death reaper jutsu Sarutobi-sensei had preformed.

That wretched old man. Why would he cast such a foolish jutsu that he knew would result in his death.

But then again the man had never felt the need to explain anything.

'That's why I'm here now.' Orochimaru thought bitterly.

Here as in...the dark musty hide away of the Otogakure hideout. Still the snake sannin couldn't believe how one man had managed to spiral his life so out of his control.

Danzo...

Orochimaru vividly remembered meeting the man when he was twelve. Sarutobi-sensei had been quietly hissing at the man, clearly not wanting his then chunnin students to hear. But Orochimaru was the prodigy of the team for a reason and his trained ears heard the hushed conversation anyway.

"Sensei" he had asked after Danzo had left in a rush.

"Hmmm?"

"Who was that man?"

"No one to worry about, Orochimaru." Sarutobi-sensei answered vaguely.

What a lie that had been.

But laying in his bed, Orochimaru wasn't strong enough to fight off the sudden flood of memories of his old team- family- from rushing into the forefront of his mind.

'It's your fault' a traitorous part of him whispered. Tsunade-hime's laugh twinkled in his ears as Jiraiya and Sarutobi-sensei smiled in a distant memory.  
********************  
'That damn brat!' Jiraiya seethed to himself, Naruro was lucky Tsunade hadn't gone full power on him, he was more mad at Tsunade than Naruto however.

How the hell could the blonde woman just blatantly spit on Naruto's dream, her grandfather and granduncle's legacy, and Sarutobi-sensei's memory!?

There was more pain in her eyes than the last time he saw here which was years ago-

After... Orochimaru left-

It had hurt Tsunade more than it had hurt Jiraiya. He always had a stronger state of mind than her.

But he couldn't forget the anguished look that crossed her face as Sarutobi-sensei told them of Orochimaru's crimes.

The golden eyed boy had always loved science. He was always mumbling formulas and chemical names Jiraiya couldn't find the braincells to even attempt to pronounce. How- when- had Orochimaru ever taken up a dark interest in human experiments. And on children too!?

They would never have assumed if not for the sudden increase in missing orphans.

Jiraiya huffed, it wouldn't do to dwell on that now. What he needed to focus on was the Akatsuki and making sure Naruto didn't somehow die of chakra exhaustion.

Naruto...

Kami, why did he have to look so much like Minato. Why did he have to talk like Kushina?

****************  
Under the Hokage tower, Danzo smiled. The scar on his chin crinkling up disgustingly as Shisui's eye whirled under the bandages that hid it from the world.

Orochimaru had succeeded. Sarutobi was dead and Danzo would be clear to take Hokage's seat because that fool Tsunade clearly wouldn't accept it.

He always knew it was worth his time to break apart Orochimaru's resolve and train him to be the greedy villain that he could throw most of his dirty work on.

Soon Orochimaru would take the Uchiha brats body and that would be another set of Sharingan for Danzo to have. Soon Danzo would be sitting in Hokage's position. Soon Konoha would be his to rule...

Yes, Orochimaru was worth corrupting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be more Kakashi and Sasuke centered with Konoha 12 action.


	3. Musings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi wakes and promptly spirals into worry.

Shino slyly placed a bug in the folds of Kurenai's dress and left the room behind Hinata and Kiba. He didn't trust his sensei to take care of herself while she watched for Kakashi.

The silver haired jonin had been moved to the hospital after day four of not waking up, and Kurenai, Gai, and Asuma lingered by the man's bedside in badly concealed worry.

Shino couldn't blame them, the Konoha 12 minus Naruto had been doing the same for Sasuke.

The bug holder tilted his head slightly when Hinata looked back at him on their walk up the stairs to Sasuke's room. The Hyuuga's lavender white eyes closed slightly.  _ Are you okay? _

He tilted his head.  _ Yes. _

Hinata nodded and raced up the stairs after Kiba who had started running in his impatience to get to Sasuke's room. Shino braced himself with an inaudible inhale. The sight would be gruesome and heart-wrenching as always but...

Sakura leaned into Ino and looked on the verge of tears. Both girls were sitting on the same plastic chair and quickly scooted over so the last sliver of space could be occupied by Hinata. In the corner of the room Neji stood with his arms crossed as he listened to Choji and Shikamaru talking. Lee was sitting on the other chair by Sasuke's bedside with his crutches leaning on the wall by Neji.

"What happened?" Kiba asked as he grabbed Akamaru off his head and set the dog on the floor.

Sakura huffed and picked her head up off Ino's shoulder, "His lung _collapsed_ in the middle of the night. They had to put him back on oxygen."

The Inuzuka made an O shape with his mouth as he went to sit on the chair with Lee.

"Is Kakashi-sensei good?" Shikamaru asked.

"The doctors say he will awake by the end of the week." Shino whispered. "But they're not sure." Kiba added with an eye roll.

"Tch, what a drag." Shikamaru complained almost instinctively.

"Hey Sakura, you never told us where Naruto went." Choji started after a moment of silence. Sakura looked up again, "Huh? Well I don't really know. He left before I could ask him anything and then Sasuke-kun had said something about finding Naruto and... just took off."

Neji frowned and shifted his position on the wall to fully take everyone in, "It isn't like Sasuke to be so hasty." The Uchiha always had different scenarios playing through his head, different plans. Neji hadn't ever heard of Sasuke stumbling over a brash explanation and then running off.

Not to mention Naruto was still off somewhere, although Gai-sensei hadn't seemed worried about the Uzumaki.

The Hyuuga prodigy frowned again, who could Naruto possibly be with?

Ah!

He directed his stare to his cousin, "Hinata-sama, have you heard Hiashi-sama talking about a man named Master Jiraiya."

Hinata startled. Over the past weeks, Neji hadn't been horribly cold to her. He'd even willingly start to help her train, but still she wasn't used to his kindness.

She thought for a moment before answering hesitantly, "Chichi said s-something about a w-woman named T-t-tsunade." She managed to stumble out.

"Tsunade-dono?" Ino perked up, "She's one of the legendary sannin and the greatest medical-nin in all five nations."

"You think she could wake Sasuke?" Choji asked and pulled out a bag of chips. Ino frowned in thought and nodded. But everyone could tell the blond was hesitant.

This was, after all, _all_ on Sasuke. If the Uchiha didn't fight to wake up...he would be stuck in a coma forever.

*****************

(2 days later)

Kakashi groaned and shifted his stiff fingers up to his face to rub at his one visible eye. His mask was still on but it had slits in it to help him breathe better.

Next to him someone shifted. The ex-ANBU captain stiffened but went lax again when he picked up the scent of Kurenai's light scented perfume.

"Kakashi?" The woman asked, standing from the hard plastic chair the hospital staff had left.

"Mhgf." The jonin groaned again, "Water..."

Kurenai winced at Kakashi's croaky voice and quickly snatched up the pitcher of water on the small table. She poured him three cups, taking the third cup from him when it was half empty.

The man sat up slowly, “How long have I been out?”

“Six days.” Kurenai answered before she sat back down, “Kakashi...Itachi and Kisame were after Naruto-”

“What!” Kakashi hissed, fragments of Itachi’s voice floated in his head.

_ ‘-the Yondaime’s legacy.’ _

“He’s ok?” Kakashi asked instantly. Kurenai nodded quickly, “Gai told me he was with Jiraiya-sama. They want to appoint Lady Tsunade Hokage so Jiraiya went after her and brought Naruto.”

Kakashi exhaled steadily and leaned back, Naruto was with Jiraiya. So...where were Sakura and Sasuke?

“What about Sasuke and S…” Kakashi trailed off, staring warily at Kurenai. Had the genjutsu user just _winced_?

“Kakashi...there was an incident.” Kurenai’s face scowled at the word incident but the woman proceeded anyway, “ _Kami_ , some loud mouth chunin came in yelling about Itachi and of course Sasuke was there-”

No.

No, no, no. Kakashi already had a feeling on how this story would go.

“We tried to catch him but he ran off so fast and then Gai came back...he said Itachi used Tsukuyomi on-”

“Where is he?” Kakashi got up, stumbling into the paper thin, hospital assigned slippers and ignoring Kurenai’s protests as he moved to race out the room.

“Kakashi wait! You just woke-”

“If it was any of your kids, would you wait?” Kakashi asked blankly. It was a low blow.

Kuernai cared for her students a lot- they all did. But fortunately the woman nodded in agreement and mumbled something about a wheelchair.

In no time, Kurenai pushed Kakashi down the hall in a simple wheelchair. Thankfully, none of the nurses on Kakashi’s chart saw the two jonin-senseis.

An old lady came out of the small elevator and smiled pleasantly at the two before waddling down the white hospital hallway. 

The elevator ride was silent and behind Kakashi, Kurenai fidgeted with nerves.

She didn’t know how Kakashi would react.

To the oxygen machine that was _breathing_ for Sasuke. The heart monitor. The I.V bags. The bruises and bandages. The decreasing chances of Sasuke’s mental state being intact-

And despite not really knowing him, Kurenai cursed Uchiha Itachi. 

Cursed him for the pain (both physical and mental) that he had brought upon his baby brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Intuition Never Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi ponders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Chapter 4!~

Two figures walked leisurely down a path leading away from a border town by Sunagakure. One was noticeably more taller than the second and had a large sword covered by bandages over his back.

Chatting amicably, Kisame addressed the teenager next to him, “We won’t be due missions until next year, Itachi-san!”

Itachi let out a loose ‘hn’ as he nodded along but the elder Uchiha’s mind was on something else.

That something else being the younger Uchiha Itachi had left behind in that tourist town.

Amaterasu-sama, he had been undeniably harsh on his ~~otouto~~ \- _Sasuke_.

He could still remember the sharp crack Sasuke’s wrist made when he had cruelly broken it. And the Tsukuyomi-

Itachi couldn’t help but think there had been something wrong with it. Sasuke shouldn’t have fainted _tha_ _t quickly_.

He had taken worse at 7 years old and still managed to run down the block and chase after Itachi when the elder had been about to leave. The advantage of being an Uchiha. _So why-_

“-Itachi-san?” Kisame’s voice brought Itachi back to attention. “Did you hear me? I said I have some business to attend to. I most likely won’t see you until when next Leader-sama calls us in for a mission.”

“Aa.” Itachi said quietly and watched in mild disinterest as Kisame went down some path and disappeared. Itachi turned and walked slowly.

Behind him, he could feel Zetsu’s disgusting presence trailing him. No, this wouldn’t do. 

Itachi was getting sick and tired of Zetsu’s spying. Was getting sick and tired of Madara- Obito-. Was getting sick and tired of the Akatsuki.

It was times like this where Itachi wished Shisui’s plan had a chance to go through. Maybe then his mother would still be smiling as she made onigiri, maybe Sasuke would still be happy and adorably innocent and not drowning in anger- because no, Sasuke still didn’t hate him. His otouto was just angry, not hateful.

But that was all loss now thanks to _Danzo_.

Of course Itachi could simply march back into Konoha and expose the shadiness of the council and how they ordered a thirteen year old to kill their family. But Itachi didn’t want Konaha to have an uprising. He didn’t want Sasuke having any double thoughts about the clan. And he especially didn’t want Sasuke to forgive him…

Well, maybe just a little.

Would Sasuke forgive him? Yes.

If the younger Uchiha was told the truth about The Clan Massacre, he would no doubt forgive his older brother and turn his anger towards the council.

Itachi exploded in a flock of crows and took off, Zetsu’s presence halted abruptly when the _thing_ realized Itachi couldn’t be followed anymore.

Should he check on Sasuke? Maybe send a crow and watch from afar as he had always done?

That would be preferable until Itachi found a place to lay low from the rest of the Akatsuki and Obito.

***********************************

**_Splat._ **

Mother’s body slumped against the floor, father’s body following not long after.

Okaa-san...Tou-san...NANDE!?

Itachi was talking again. Foolish. Pathetic.

Aunt Akako’s neck was slit open. Red. Red. Red.

Red. Just like her name meant. Sasuke would never hear her fire dance story again.

Foolish. Pathetic.

Everything was red. The sky, the blood, the ground, the blood, Itachi’s Mangekyou Sharingan. The blood, the blood, the blood. It was all red.

Uncle Daisuke was stabbed, blood gushing as he choked on pain and terror.

Cousin Eiko’s spine was crushed. Nande? Nande? Nande Nii-san?

‘To see if I could.’

Why Natsumi, Emiyo, Fujita, Hajime, Mayoko, Mikia, Rinako? What had his perfect cousins done to deserve Itachi’s brutality.

Red, red, red.

He heard far away voices. Talking, talking, talking. Not anguished screams. Someone was talking to Hinata-sama. Who was that?

Behind him his Aunties screamed. Grandma Sato fell and bashed her skull against the concrete.

Why? Why was-

Itachi.

In the Tsukuyomi, Sasuke screamed as his uncles raced past him, fruitlessly trying to shield their children from a sudden barrage of shuriken.

FOOLISH, PATHETIC-

**************************

Naruto raced to the gates, shouting a greeting to Genma and Kotetsu who raised their eyebrows in bemusement.

Behind the blonde, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, and TonTon walked at a much slower pace as Kotetsu went over the necessary information for Tsunade to come back into the village long-time again.

“TSUNADE-BAA-CHAN, ERO-SENNIN, SHIZUNE-NEE-CHAN, HURRY UP ‘TTEBAYO!” Naruto screamed, startling the birds in nearby trees.

Kotetsu snickered and quickly handed Tsunade her papers as the woman stormed past the gates to grab Naruto’s ear and lecture him for being an ‘insolent brat’

The Uzumaki didn’t falter, so long as Tsunade was here.

The village would have a hokage soon, and Sasuke and Lee would be back to their old selves in no time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Back to the Leaf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi only ever cared for Sasuke...even if it brought along a revolution, Itachi would risk it.

Tsunade’s glowing green hands hovered over Sasuke’s head. Her face was pinched as she went through Sasuke’s chakra system. 

Why was his chakra so disrupted if the genjutsu had already ended two weeks ago? 

Behind her Naruto and Sakura shot each other nervous glances as they took in Tsunade’s distressed face.

“Hatake?” Tsunade questioned, “how long were you asleep?”

“Six days…” Kakashi answered. Why did Tsunade look so-

“He’s still in whatever Itachi put him under.” Tsunade snapped, removing her hands and glowering at the doctors present. “Didn’t anyone notice!?”

Nervous glances were exchanged.

“You mean...the Tsukuyomi is still active?” Kakashi asked as horror seeped into him. The Tsukuyomi had been one of the strongest mental blows he had ever received, and Itachi had ended it in a second (although it felt like an eternity)

If Sasuke was still in…. ** _72 hours in a second_** -

Was his mind even salvageable!?

In the narrow windowsill of the hospital window, Itachi’s crow cawed lowly as Shisui's mangekyou sharingan relayed the information back to the elder Uchiha.

*************************************

Neji whirled gracefully and blocked Hinata’s jab. They paused for a moment, huffing while their Byakugan watched the flow of chakra perfectly. Shikamaru observed absentmindedly, while TenTen and Choji chatted.

Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino had disappeared into the trees a while ago. And Naruto, Sakura and Ino were in the hospital visiting Sasuke and Lee. Apparently Tsunade was doing Lee’s surgery today.

But Sasuke was still asleep.

Sakura had told them as she practiced her mud walls how Itachi’s genjutsu was so strong Sasuke wasn’t mentally capable of breaking it from inside his head, and no one was strong enough to drop whatever illusion Sasuke was seeing.

Tsunade wanted to put together a team to get Itachi.

But the council stopped her left and right, much to the gambler’s annoyance. _It didn’t make sense_ , Sakura thought, it was quite clear Itachi was the only hope of fixing Sasuke and yet they denied it so steadily.

Sasuke was loyal to Konoha, his clan doujutsu practically priceless now that it was a rarity, but the council was prepared to lose that? And for what?

No one knew.

************************

The crow whispered it’s discoveries through the bond it had with Itachi. ‘Sasuke is still under your genjutsu, they seek for you to undo it.’

Still under...Itachi had been careful, so how-

Sasuke would wake up eventually, Itachi knew that. But could he find any more heartlessness to leave Sasuke to suffer the horrors of the Tsukuyomi, especially after it was Itachi’s fault he was stuck in it anyway?

No, Itachi thought, I can’t be selfish. Sasuke will be fine, and the only way I could be allowed around him again is if I expose the true nature of the massacre. It would bring a revolution, I can't let Sasuke…

Itachi found himself flying to Konoha on a flock of crows no less than an hour later.


	6. Flocking Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new alternative pops up!

The white sterile walls of the hospital room blended in with Sasuke’s porcelain pale skin. His chest rose steadily and fell smoothly with every breath the unaware boy took.

But it was all wrong.

Kakashi shifted in the bedside seat as he stared with rising anger at his student. Sasuke should be smirking his sarcastic half smile and rolling his bottomless black eyes at something Naruto said.

But here, for the past two weeks, the lone Uchiha lay in a stiff hospital bed.

His heart rate, breathing patterns and facial expressions were all steady and not betraying the horrors the boy was seeing in his head.

Tsunade had forbidden Ino from using her mind transfer jutsu on Sasuke when she got a full report from Kakashi about what happened in the Tsukuyomi. It was too dangerous to dive into Sasuke’s mind or try to break the genjutsu without the risk of being trapped in the illusions along with Sasuke.

The council still adamantly refused to have any jonin teams or hunter-nins be sent out for Itachi. Tsunade couldn’t help but think there was something more than what meets the eye in terms of the elder Uchiha.

They didn’t seem to care about Sasuke and everytime Itachi’s name was brought up they would stiffen as though they knew something…

Tsunade didn’t have time to ponder on that however. The last Uchiha was slowly fading and Tsunade was now running on _the sheer desperation_ in the Konoha 12’s eyes when they saw Sasuke’s prone form laying vulnerable in the sterile walls of a hospital room.

In the case that they couldn’t get to Itachi, she would have to find something- _anything_ \- to undo this genjutsu.

The slug sannin huffed as she poured over a seemingly endless book on the effects of genjutsu, if she could find something similar to what Kakashi described-

“Tsunade-sama!” Shizune suddenly burst into the office, TonTon chasing after her, “A doctor spotted Itachi in Sasuke’s room!”

Tsunade cursed.

***********************

Itachi admitted to himself that he had been unusually reckless. It wasn’t like him to go rushing into things without a second thought but this was about Sasuke…

He had flown through the slightly cracked window and appeared in a burst of crows. The second he caught sight of Sasuke in the hospital bed he wanted to kick himself.

His otouto’s pale skin he had inherited from their mother was gaunt and gray looking, the wide black eyes that Itachi adored were closed and if it wasn’t for the heart monitor, Itachi would have thought the younger was dead.

Stumbling forward on suddenly unsteady legs, Itachi all but crashed into the bed as he fumbled to open Sasuke’s eyelids.

Quickly he activated his Mangekyou, the same thing that put Sasuke in this hospital bed-

Just as the prodigy was about to dive into the Tsukuyomi the sliding door of the hospital opened and with an unaware hum a doctor came in, check board in hand.

There was a deadly silence as the doctor watched in a disbelieving daze before she opened her mouth and screeched as loud as she could.

Itachi was gone before she could get a loud “HELP!” out.

*********************************

“He has to still be here then-”

“We should send scouts out-”

“This is our chance-”

“QUIET!” Tsunade barked over the din of the assembled jonin teachers in her office.

Word of Itachi’s return spread through the hospital work force like a wildfire but thankfully had not yet reached civilian ears. Gai had gone to visit Lee, Neji had accompanied him muttering something about not wanting to go home yet. The second they got there they noticed the doctors had been whispering like Academy children,

Gai kept a careful hand clamped on Neji’s shoulder as they dutifully made their way to Lee’s recovery room. They betrayed nothing as they carefully listened with trained ears to the gossip. All they needed to hear was ‘Itachi’ and ‘Sasuke’s room’ and they knew instantly the elder Uchiha had been here.

Next to the Taijutsu master, Kakashi stood tall and stiff as he stared at Tsunade almost blankly. But Gai had known Kakashi long enough to not notice the well concealed rage in his eternal rival’s visible eye.

It was only by sheer control that Kakashi was holding himself back from outright demanding Tsunade to put together a team and send for Itachi.

“Hokage-sama,” Kurenai objected politely, “perhaps now that Itachi is in the village as we speak, the council’s decision doesn't matter.”

A silence fell over the room as everyone considered it. Suddenly, Tsunade was glad she dismissed the ANBU in the room as she considered Kurenai’s words. It would be easy for the jonin present to go look for Itachi under the guise that they had no idea of him being in the village.

They didn't know...it was just a horrible coincidence...

It was a simple lie.

Tsunade sent Asuma, Gai, Kakashi, and Kurenai to look for Itachi without a second thought.

She didn't play around with her patients, Uchiha or not.

Itachi would fix his brother and be dealt with. Simple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Sorry for the wait~


	7. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi finally gets the chance to pull Sasuke out of Tsukuyomi.

It took them the better half of 15 hours to find Itachi. And when they did they had to grab Kakashi before the silver haired jonin threw something at the S-class criminal.

The tea cafe Itachi hid in, disguised as the average civilian, was conveniently nearby the hospital and it was clear that Itachi had every intention of going back to the hospital. The jonin grabbed chairs from other tables and sat around Itachi, effectively blocking him in.

If Itachi realized they were trying to deliberately trap him in, he didn’t comment.

“Why the hell are you here?” Kakashi finally hissed after a moment's silence. Itachi calmly took a sip of his green tea and dropped the henge, reverting back to his graceful features specific to the Uchiha.

“I merely came to reverse the Tsukuyomi.” Itachi answered carefully, making sure to keep up his impassive mask, “it was silly of me to assume Sasuke was strong enough to get out of it himself.”

Gai bit in before Kakashi said something he would regret later, “And how did you know Sasuke fell into a coma anyway?”

Itachi stared blankly and made no move to answer.

“That hardly matters anyway,” Asuma said slowly, a cigarette hanging from his lips although he made no move to light it, “under Hokage-sama’s orders you are to be brought to the hospital to reverse whatever you did.”

Itachi raised a graceful eyebrow, “The Godaime would trust me in the presence of my brother?”   
  


“No.” Kurenai ground out and stood, shooting a look to her companions and then striding out. She would head to the hospital immediately and see if any of the kids were there. The last thing she wanted was for any of their students to come into contact with Itachi.

Surprisingly, none of the kids were lounging in the waiting room as visiting time came around. She had expected them to be here, waiting impatiently for the 30 minutes all 11 of them could be allowed into Sasuke’s room at the same time.

Her fellow jonin senseis came into the hospital soon, blocking Itachi from view and casually strolling over to where Kurenai was waiting by a tight staircase that led to the floor comatose patients were held.

A lone nurse bustled up the hallway and didn’t even spare them a glance as she pushed a heart monitor into a room and disappeared. 

When they reached Sasuke’s room, _12 chakra signatures_ could be felt and Kurenai’s heart nearly stopped.

It wasn’t visiting time yet so how…

“Kids,” She called as she opened the door. The quiet conversations and fussing stopped as 11 heads turned and stared at their respective sensei.

“Who’s that?” Gai heard TenTen whisper to Ino. The Yamanaka heiress shrugged and nudged Naruto who sat on the floor. The other blonde shot his blue eyes to the figure TenTen whispered about and stilled.

Uchiha Itachi. Was here. With their senseis. As though he hadn’t put his baby brother in the hospital.

“Kaka-sensei!” Naruto yelled immediately, shooting to his feet and pointing a trembling finger at Itachi, “what the heck is he doing here!”

“Who _is_ that?” TenTen asked again, raising to her feet and getting into a mild defensive posture as she took in Naruto’s obvious nervousness.

“This is Itachi,” Kakashi answered, “Sasuke’s older brother-”

The Hatake didn’t even get to finish before the kids burst into a loud explosion of curses and questions. Neji instantly pushed a trembling Hinata behind him, Lee moved to Kiba’s side as the Inuzuka snatched up Akamaru. Shikamaru shot a pointed glance to his teammates and slowly moved to a standing position. When the whirlwind of movement died down, all the genin and the one chunin of the group were in defensive postures.

“Kaka-sensei?” Sakura questioned. _Why is he here? Didn’t he hurt Sasuke-kun?_

“Under Tsunade-sama’s orders, he’s here to undo the genjutsu.” Kakashi said slowly, not allowing his distrust to bleed through into his lazy drawl. The last thing he wanted to do was scare any of the kids in here with his clear distrust. Especially Sakura who had already ran herself into the ground worrying about Naruto and Sasuke.

Itachi stepped forward slowly, not sparing a glance at the four strongest genin teams in Konoha and moved toward Sasuke for the second time in one day.

His sharingan swirled into the familiar, feared pinwheel pattern and everyone tensed as he opened Sasuke’s eyes and delved into the Tsukuyomi.

*********************************************

In the red, white, and black nightmare realm, Itachi winced as he landed right in the middle of the concrete street where Granny Sato fell to her demise. A barrage of shuriken suddenly flew towards his panicking kin and the illusion shifted.

They were in the house, mother and father’s bodies tossed over each other as blood dripped from the deep slash Itachi’s katana made. Sasuke sat motionless in a corner with his head held eerily to stare at his parent’s fresh corpse.

The younger Uchiha brother mumbled something under his breath, and with a sick feeling Itachi moved forward to listen-

“-Natsumi, Aunt Nyoko, Okaa-san, why, why, why-”

With an internal jolt, Itachi realized Sasuke was reciting the names of the fallen Uchiha clan members.

“Sasuke,” Itachi moved so he was sitting in Sasuke’s field of view and blocking the sight of their dead parents, “Sasuke.”

Sasuke continued with his mumbling, staring brainlessly into Itachi and not quite registering. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry…”

“Sasuke, look at me.” Itachi commanded quickly, the scene would change soon and he wanted to spare Sasuke the next round of having to see Granny Sato, and Uncle Daisuke and Aunt Nyoko and countless of cousins-

Sasuke shuddered suddenly and paused his mumbling. “Who?” He asked breathlessly as though in disbelief, “why? Who?”

Itachi winced and tentatively grabbed his brother’s arm, “Sasuke it’s me, it’s Nii-san-”

Sasuke shuddered again as he looked around the black and red shaded house, “Okaa-san…”

The boy mumbled some more before looking at Itachi, “Why?”

Itachi frowned grimly as he pulled Sasuke’s face to his chest so the younger wouldn't see the shift in scenes as it cut to Uncle Daisuke’s murder…

“Im sorry, otouto...I’m so sorry.” Itachi whispered as he ruthlessly tore through the vivid genjutsu and pulled his brother out of comatose.

Sasuke awoke with a sharp intake of breath.


	8. Master of Manipulation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke is out of a coma. Orochimaru is drowning in memories.

The second Sasuke’s bottomless black orbs opened he screamed.

Jumbled words that sounded borderline hysterical fell from Sasuke’s mouth as he thrashed around in the bed and tangled himself in blankets and wires. The rest of the kids watched in shock as the stoic Uchiha Sasuke thrashed as Kakashi held him down so he didn’t accidently pull his I.V out.

“Teme…” Naruto mumbled as he watched his rival twist and lash out in obvious fear. The black in Sasuke’s eyes cleared to make space for red as his sharingan came to life. The famed doujutsu whirled hypnotically as the third tomoe presented itself in response to Sasuke’s fear.

“Sasuke,” Kakashi called as he held down his hyperventilating student, the genius responded with a violent motion that nearly caught Kakashi in the face, “ _SASUKE_!”

The Uchiha paused, right leg lifted in an obvious attempt to deal Kakashi one of his devastating kicks, but the loud tone halted him in his tracks as the panic bubbling in his chest cleared away.

Kakashi was here, and so were a bunch of other kids whose names sluggishly moved around in Sasuke’s brain. Where was Itachi? He could've sworn he saw Itachi in the weird black and red house…

Surely Itachi was here. _“Sasuke it’s me, it’s Nii-san-”_

He’d heard his brother say it quite clearly so where…

Kurenai gathered the other kids, pulling them out of the room despite their protests and left Sasuke, Itachi, and Kakashi in the room. How they hadn’t attracted any doctors was beyond her but still she bustled the large group of kids into the waiting room.

In the hospital room, Sasuke breathed heavily as his stiff neck forced his head to stare up at Kakashi’s masked face. Where was Itachi...he had been _right there_.

“...where…’Tachi,” Sasuke mumbled something else, too quiet and intelligible for Kakashi to decipher. 

“What did you say, Sasuke?”

“I want ‘Tachi.” The boy complained, writhing in Kakashi’s grasp suddenly as he mumbled nonsense. A cool hand settled on his forehead and as though by magic Sasuke stilled and fell back to sleep, his chest raising more surely than when he was in a coma.

“What did you do.” Kakashi asked warily as he stared at the teenager that once called him ‘sempai’.

“An old habit from when he was a baby.” Itachi shrugged lightly as he absorbed Sasuke’s soft features into the deepest parts of his memory. Sasuke would become more lucid next time he woke, and he definitely wouldn’t want Itachi around then. Itachi couldn't deny that the thought of that future moment didn’t hurt.

There was a time where Sasuke had joyfully basked in the times Itahi could give him attention, when Itachi would spoil his younger brother with hugs and random stuffed animals brought back from missions, when Okaa-san could distract Tou-san with work as Itachi chased Sasuke through the forest in a jubilant game of tag. Times when Sasuke was basically Itachi’s drug and the light of Sasuke’s world.

But father had to go listening to the elders and planning a coup, Danzo had to go order the massacre of everyone in the clan-

Danzo. Danzo. Danzo.

Itachi couldn’t help but wonder how many lives that man had destroyed.

************************************

Orochimaru listened with a sharp glare that was masked by the bandages covering his-no _someone_ else’s skin. Kabuto rambled on about the new strain of some virus he wanted to test on some prisoners.

The snake sannin had a strong urge to summon a snake and order it to devour Kabuto. The young healer was just to-

Orochimaru shifted again. He possessed some random prisoner to regain use of his arms and to subtly screw with Danzo’s plans. The vile Sharingan thief thought himself to be the smartest, but Orochimaru was a snake, a natural deceiver with years of manipulation under his obi. Yet the sannin didn’t understand why he kept allowing the wicked man to abuse him.

Orochimaru wasn’t a child anymore so Danzo’s physical threats didn’t scare him at all, it was the threats to Anko’s safety.

He basically considered Anko his child. The girl was the only one who looked at him with such raw adoration, the only one who just saw a sensei and not the genius sannin who had easily completed over 100 S-class missions. He had, without worry, taught her some of his deadly techniques.

It wasn’t until he noticed Danzo was hidden in a ring of thick trees by the training field did he realize the bastard had been watching him train Anko this whole time. He had flung the light robe he wore over a kimono at Anko and pulled her into a dumpling shop. He had ordered her plates full of dumplings and asked her random things to get rid of the questions she so clearly wanted to ask about his hastiness to end training.

Two weeks later Danzo ordered her to be included in the curse seal experiment. That or she would be killed by Danzo’s hand.

Those seals were dangerous and painful. Sometimes Orochimaru stayed up at random hours to recall all the people who died from it, he only slept when he forced himself to remember that Anko wasn’t on that list.

But she hated him now. The scowl on her face that Orochimaru used to tease her about was clear in the forefront of the sannin’s mind.

“-sama? Are you going to retrieve the Uchiha anytime soon?” Kabuto asked.

“Quiet!” Orochimaru hissed. No, he was not. He would leave Sasuke alone until Danzo threatened to do something drastic. Orochimaru would have laughed if he wasn’t _drowning_ in memories about Anko and Jiraiya and Tsunade-hime and-

Was it too late? To stop this madness? End Danzo’s silent reign and stop all the death and the threats?

All he had to do was tell Jiraiya...

All he had to do was turn to Tsunade...


	9. Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi abandons his original plans, Sasuke and Hinata have a meaningful discussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Sorry if anyone seems OOC~

Breathing heavily Sakura lunged again, lashing out a deadly roundhouse kick that Kakashi barely saw coming until it connected to his arm. Humming in approval, Kakashi flipped away from the girl before she could land another kick in. Her taijutsu had increased at an alarming rate, while Naruto's natural instincts and Sasuke's wider knowledge of multiple kata's still bested her, Sakura made up for it in raw strength. Already, Kakashi could feel a bruise forming on his arm.

Naruto was sneaking around somewhere, waiting for Sakura to strike somewhere that would leave Kakashi open for a moment. Usually an exercise like this didn’t take all afternoon considering that there was supposed to be three of them. But Sasuke was still in the hospital…

Itachi had sat by his little brother’s bedside for a good hour before he asked Kakashi if Tsunade was waiting for him to turn himself in. When the missing-nin had calmly snuck past the chunin and ANBU guards and into Tsunade’s office, the woman had quirked an expectant eyebrow at him. Itachi let his eyes drift to the hidden ANBU posts he knew the silent nins occupied, and Tsunade dismissed them without backward thought.

“Explain, Uchiha.” The woman said cooly as she flicked through papers.

“The massacre was an order from Danzo. The Sandaime approved it.” Itachi kept his voice down, letting the truth fall free from his lips. Just as anyone would, Tsunade froze.

“The Sandaime and the most powerful council member ordered you, at the time a _thirteen year old_ , to exterminate your clan.” Tsunade spoke slowly and flung the papers aside to fully take in Itachi.

Itachi nodded, there was no turning away from this now, “The clan elders were pushing my father to plan a coup d’etat. Danzo said the clan as a whole were too powerful to be left alive, so he ordered for everyone’s death.”

“If so, then why is Sasuke still alive.” Tsunade hummed, she phrased it as a statement rather than a question because she knew exactly why Sasuke was still alive.

The Uchiha loved deeply.

Otherwise then Sasuke would not be alive, and Itachi would not come back to the village and turn himself in just so he could undo a genjutsu Tsunade had a inkling Sasuke would wake up from naturally.

“Why encourage him to hate you, why lie about the massacre?”

“I did not wish for him to think differently about the clan, especially after their demise.” Itachi answered, “I was told to enter the Akatsuki and keep tabs on them after I defected from the village, if I encouraged Sasuke’s hatred of me...then perhaps he would feel as if he did something right for once and I would be allowed to die.”

“You’ll have to scrap those plans and orders, Uchiha.” Tsunade sighed as she absentmindedly felt around her bottom desk drawer for sake, “as of now, you’re being removed from the Bingo book and being put into the reserves until the public knows of the reality of this situation.”

Those were the words Itachi feared, public knowledge of this would bring an uproar that had every chance of turning violent.

“You believe me?” Was what Itachi had asked instead. Tsunade scoffed as she pulled out the bottle of sake and popped the cork.

“Of course I believe you,” Tsunade snapped, “The council were acting rather suspicious in regards to you. However, you will be going through the head of interrogation before I officially clear you. You did still massacre a clan and torture two of my shinobi.”

“Hai.”

“And Itachi, Sasuke needs a guardian and now that you're back, tell Sasuke the truth. He deserves it.” Tsunade ordered.

Itachi bowed lightly and body flickered away as Tsunade waved a dismissive hand.

****************************

Taking the onigiri from Hinata with a quiet thanks, Sasuke leaned back and winced in discomfort as the foreign feeling of an I.V streaming liquids into his veins. Technically Sasuke wasn’t supposed to have outside food, but he still gladly took whatever his friends smuggled in for him.

The Hyuuga sat in the wide plastic chair carefully and nibbled on her own spicy tuna onigiri as she told Sasuke of what was going on with everyone else. “Choji, Ino and Shikamaru are having their mental evaluation today.”

Aa, the mental evaluations were supposed to happen once a year for every active team. Team 7 would be having theirs in the next two weeks, hopefully Sasuke would be out of the hospital by then.

“When are you having yours?” Sasuke asked with a frown. Hinata swallowed faintly and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like tomorrow.

“It will go well.” Sasuke told her the second he caught the self-doubt pass over Hinata’s face.

“Neji-nii-san says so too…” Hinata mumbled, “but I’m worried about team 7.”

Sasuke froze. He didn't give much thought to the evaluation. It was just a test, and Sasuke had always passed tests…

But with the mental blow he had just received, Sakura’s doubt in her abilities due to her parents scathing verbal abuse and Naruto communicating with a demon...was it possible for them to be deemed mentally capable.

“We’ll make it out, Hinata, we always do.”

*******************************************************


	10. Not so Stoic Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke and Itachi talk (or yell on Sasuke's part), Sakura has a small...problem

2 days later, Kakashi found himself leading Itachi, who no one seemed to recognize without the Sharingan, to the hospital.

“He’ll probably attack you on sight,” the ex-ANBU said with a cheerful eye smile, “but I’ll talk to him before so he doesn't do anything drastic.”

Itachi just blinked, mildly worried but not wanting to display it.

Kakashi still somehow managed to catch it. In the few months he had his precious little students, he picked up on some alarming issues his students had...especially Sasuke.

The survivor’s guilt, the PTSD, the superiority complex, the way he hid behind the high collar of his blue shirt, and Kakashi hadn’t even noticed until after the Chunin exams.

It wasn’t until Kakashi had finally stopped playing the part of a lazy sensei that could care less outside of missions, that Sasuke stopped hiding his face behind his collar and completely blaming himself for the slaughter of his clan. It was only then when Sasuke lost the cold, arrogant mask and broke down despite his clear attempt at concealing his emotions like Uchiha children had been trained to do.

As the two ex-ANBU strode in silence to Sasuke’s recovery room, Kakashi hoped Sasuke still had some lucid part of him that loved Itachi, otherwise this would just make both Uchiha’s lives difficult.

Gesturing for Itachi to wait, Kakashi slipped into the room with an eye smile present on his masked features. Sasuke didn't even try hiding the bag of chips Choji had given him, instead turning to look at Kakashi suspiciously.

"Are you off the I.V drip already?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed in obvious confusion.

"Are you going blind? The thing is clearly still in my arm." Sasuke scowled. He didn't know why Kakashi was acting so damn innocent because that only meant the man was hiding something-

“What are you hiding?” Sasuke asked curiously.

Tch, only this kid could go from defensive to curious in a matter of seconds.

"Itachi is outside the door." Kakashi deadpanned when his 'break it to him gently' plan obviously failed, "I want you to be rational-"

"What the hell!" Sasuke burst, the heart monitor beeps sharply increasing as his eyes lighted with rage, "Why isn't he in a jail cell!? You said you took care of him so why-"

Kakashi raised his hands in a peaceful gesture, "He has something to tell you that you deserve to know-"

"About what-"

"You'll have to talk to him yourself, Sasuke-chan." Kakashi said lightly. 

The tone was light but Sasuke winced regardless, Kakashi only added the 'chan' when he was teasing or if he thought the Uchiha was being childish. Sasuke knew it was the latter reason.

"I don't want to talk to him." Sasuke mumbled after a tense beat. Kakashi sighed fondly, if only Sasuke could see how vulnerable he looked now.

"Just go along with it Sasuke," Kakashi said as he moved to open the door, "you deserve to know after all."

With that the jonin sensei opened the door and slipped out as Itachi entered.

For a moment, Itachi hovered in the doorway not quite sure if he should fall through with this. And then his eyes settled on Sasuke.

Sasuke looked better at least. His ethereal pale skin wasn't tinged gray and purple with bruises, his bottomless onyx orbs were open and aware even if they were pointedly directed away from Itachi's general direction.

"Well!?" Sasuke snapped as he finally turned and took in the sight of Itachi. The eighteen years old was just standing there with that stupid effortless air of grace and his stupid silent power and his-

"There are things that I would rather you not know,” Itachi said carefully, “but for your best interest I think it would be best if I told you.”

And for some reason, Sasuke didn’t know why...but for a split second he couldn't help but feel there was something more to Itachi than the elder let on that night.

***********************************************

“Sakura-chan, it’s not too late to quit.” Mebuki sighed as she swirled her tea. “You're not cut out for the shinobi life.”

Sakura tensed, it was a common discussion(argument) at the Haruno dinner table, but it put Sakura on edge anyway.

“I’m getting much better though-”

“Sakura look at your face,” Mebuki snapped, “you're all scratched up from playing around with those boys.”

“I wasn’t playing, Okaa-chan!” Sakura placed her chopsticks down with a clack, “we were training. Bruises are common.”

“Don’t backchat me girl,” Mebuki hissed, “being shinobi is not for little girls.”

“I’m not a little girl anymore, I proved myself strong enough to graduate from the Academy.” Sakura said lowly as she watched her mother from the corner of her eye. Mebuki’s emerald eyes lighted with rage and before anyone knew-

**SMACK!**

The sharp sting of her mother’s hand lighted a dull throb on her face. Kizashi frowned, staring between his daughter and wife, he wondered if it would be _worth_ saying anything…

“You won’t survive out there Sakura, I’ve told you,” Mebuki snapped, “you think running around with that Uchiha boy and the  _ demon brat _ -”

She wasn’t used to hearing people talk about Sasuke in an overall negative light but Naruto on the other hand…

Why’d everyone seem to be so hateful to one of her bestfriends.

“Don’t talk about Naruto and Sasuke-kun like that!” Sakura leaped to her feet, still clutching her lightly bruised cheek, “my friends have nothing to do with this!”

“Go to your room Sakura.” Kizashi finally interjected. Sakura shot the pink-haired man a betrayed look but ran off to her room without a word.

As she stormed up the stairs she could briefly hear her mother mutter something, “We should never have entertained this ridiculous dream of hers. She should be learning how to take care of the house not _rolling around in the mud with boys_!”

Stumbling through the breathing exercises Kaka-sensei had taught her, Sakura rubbed the tears cascading from her cheeks desperately.

She wanted out of this house. She _needed_ to be back at Sasuke and Naruto’s side with Kakashi’s protective presence behind them. Anywhere other than this oppressive, tense house with her snappy mother and nonchalant father would be better.

But she couldn’t- she wouldn’t tell anyone. Kakashi would fight tooth and nail to have her passed to his guardianship, Naruto would be upset, and Sasuke would _certainly_ murder her parents.

The three males had enough going on, and she was certainly the one most better off with her parents no matter how much they criticized... 

*********************************************

Outside of Sasuke’s hospital room, Kakashi winced as he listened to Sasuke’s sobs. Despite knowing that Itachi didn’t wish to harm Sasuke despite past actions, Kakashi still waited outside because there was no way in hell he would just leave like that…

Inside the room had been unbearably quiet for the first five to ten minutes, and Kakashi found himself mentally applauding Sasuke’s current self-control and no sooner than after the thought passed through Kakashi’s mind, all hell broke loose.

Sasuke had a beautiful, deadly temper, one that could be physically or emotionally destructive to the person on the receiving end of the youngest Uchiha’s rage. The kid would either throw punches or curse riddled insults. And poor Itachi seemed to be on the receiving end of both.

Through Sasuke’s airy and hysterical screeches, Kakashi could hear mentions of Fugaku and Shisui.

“-Shisui wouldn’t have taken part in any of that, so why? Why the hell did _everyone_ have to die? Why would you leave me alive to suffer-oh, OH IT’S BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO TEST YOUR DAMN LIMITS, ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU SAID YOU _BASTARD_ -”

Something crashed and Kakashi knew that Sasuke was going to start getting more violent in a few more moments.

“What about Natsumi and  Mayoko and Mikia and Rinako and _MOTHER_!? What did they have anything to do with a COUP!? YOU AND THE VILLAGE. It’s always the village and now your just gonna sit there _like I owe you shit_ -”

Suddenly Sasuke stopped talking. Itachi’s quiet voice was mumbling something to Sasuke and then a thump of feet as Sasuke leaped out of bed and kicked the heart monitor in Itachi’s general direction.

“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT FATHER AND THE DAMN ELDERS!? I’M ASKING YOU WHY YOU THOUGHT LISTENING TO KILLING OFF THE ENTIRE CLAN, _OUR GRANDPARENTS, KIDS MY AGE, THE BABIES_ -”

Itachi said something else.

“Because you didn’t want me dead.” Sasuke repeated dully. 

“Danzo would have taken his own action and that would have resulted in your death indefinitely.” Itachi was on the verge of getting loud too it seemed.

“If you loved me so damn much, why the hell would you say all those things you said that night, why tell me to hate you when you of all people know that I can’t...Wait, you thought I would be able to do that?” Sasuke laughed now, hysterical and exhausted, “I can never do anything right Itachi, isn’t that correct _aniki_.” The title was spat like a curse and Kakashi could hear the mocking tone in it without even needing to see Sasuke’s body language.

Itachi was saying more things, sounding oddly subdued (Kakashi couldn't blame him) and tentative, but Sasuke screamed again.

“NO! Just shut up about that. You said enough and I don’t want to hear anymore crap, so just forget it.” Sasuke demanded, “the Hokage pardoned you, right? Great, now please for the love of Amaterasu _stop lying to me_ and just tell me what’s going to happen now.”

Absentmindedly, Kakashi noticed this had been the most he’s heard Sasuke speak in one sitting.

“Maa, things are so complicated.” Kakashi muttered and then pulled out _Icha Icha_ so he could drown out the sounds of the much more peaceful conversation going on in Sasuke’s recovery room.


	11. Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi is trying to help Itachi, Sasuke is suspicious, and the sand siblings are just trying to be normal.

Sasuke found himself lost in thought as he walked carefully with his hands encased in one of Sakura and Naruto’s hands. After Kakashi had knocked some sense into him during the exam, Sasuke found that pushing away his teammates physical affections was doing him more harm than good.

Now as they walked Sasuke back to his apartment after being discharged from the hospital, the younger Uchiha found himself thinking. He would be put in Itachi’s care now that the older was technically legally not a criminal anymore. Itachi’s cracked facade of being evil had shattered and now the same kind, although untouchable Nii-san he had once adored could be seen again.

He wondered if he was somehow disrespecting the clan by running back into Itachi’s arms despite the elder being the one to kill them. _Danzo_ , Sasuke reminded himself firmly, _it was Danzo._

Itachi was safe again, there was nothing to worry about-

“Sakura, what happened to your face?” Sasuke questioned when a patch of light shone on Sakura’s fair skin and highlighted an oddly hand shaped bruise that was only just beginning to fade.

“A training accident,Sasu-kun,” Sakura answered smoothly, “Naru, do you wanna get ramen.” The kunoichi changed the subject. The blonde's attention was immediately called away from the bruise Sasuke pointed out at the mention of ramen.

_Strange_ , Sasuke thought, _she usually gives more detailed answers_ …

*****************************************

“Yo,” Kakashi called, in the slightly chilly training field in the abandoned Uchiha district Itachi paused his attack on the innocent targets and put his shuriken down as he turned to look at Kakashi.

“Aa?” Itachi inquired. Kakashi tossed a small bundle of metal at the sharingan user. Itachi caught it deftly, it was a key that was painted in a weird mix of blue, pink and orange.

“The key to Sasuke’s apartment.” Kakashi explained, “Maa, I know you two haven’t talked since the hospital but if you really want to help make Sasuke’s life manageable approach him first.”

“What?” Itachi muttered quietly. Sasuke never needed any prompting to have conversations unless it was with someone he didn’t know. But then again his otouto _had_ changed a lot…

“He doesn’t accept people easily,” Kakashi shrugged, “I had to electrocute him and tie him to a tree before I could have an actual conversation with him.”

“Hn.” Itachi answered. Sweat dropping, Kakashi gestured for Itachi to follow him.

He might as well just show Itachi where Sasuke’s apartment was to avoid any confusion.

*********************************

“ITAI!! BASTARD GET OFF ME!!” Naruto howled. Sakura watched in mild amusement as her boys rolled around in a violent mix of fists and kicks as they argued over the remote.

“It’s my TV, usuratonkachi!” Sasuke snapped and pinched Naruto’s wrist so the blonde would drop the remote. 

There was a brief knock on the door and Sakura sighed as she got up and stepped carefully over the tangle of pink and green blankets the three of them had on the floor. Before she opened the door, she knew it was Kaka-sensei when she sensed the prickly feeling of his chakra.

“Kaka-sen-” Sakura’s joyful greeting got cut off when she spotted the other man with her sensei. Sasuke hadn’t told them much of what was going on with Itachi, but if the elder Uchiha was here with Kakashi then something big must have happened.

“Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun!” Sakura called and pushed open the door to allow the two entrance, “clean up the blankets, we have company!”

“Who!?” Sasuke shouted back.

“Kaka-sensei and….ano Sasuke-kun…” Sakura said awkwardly as she looked at Itachi but kept her eyes from making contact with the man.

Sasuke stuck his head into the tiny hallway that led into his meticulous apartment, and much to Sakura’s surprise the raven haired boy smirked.

“Usuratonkachi, leave the blankets and go turn on the kettle.” Sasuke asked(demanded).

**************************************

In the hot, dry lands of Suna, Kankuro watched his little brother stumble through a nerve racked apology for something Kankuro forgot about the instant it happened.

The red headed Shukaku container had been doing that a lot recently. Apologizing.

The tiny bits of some puppet that Gaara accidentally destroyed lay irreparable at Kankuro’s feet. “-sorry, Kankuro. I forgot it wasn’t finished.”

“Calm down Gaara.” Kankuro sighed. Jeez, how in Kami’s name had things changed so quickly. It seemed like just yesterday that he and Temari stayed clear of Gaara in _fear for their lives_ but now Gaara seemed to be trying to make up for all the lost years he should have been playing the little brother and not the psycho, bloodthirsty, container of the sand demon.

Kankuro would've found Gaara’s reaction to the demolished puppet funny if he didn’t know that Gaara was genuinely worried about his siblings not wanting anything to do with him if he screwed up again.

And this change was all to that blond Uzumaki kid.

Kankuro had damn near had a heart attack when he heard a soft apology fall from Gaara’s lips after the match-off between the two jinchuuriki.

“It's just a dumb show puppet, jan.” Kankuro brushed it off and turned his attention back to Crow who was sprawled out on the table as Kankuro carefully inserted poison laced knives in one of the puppet’s many compartments.

“Alright.” Gaara’s deep voice rasped even though traces of doubt still danced in his aqua eyes.

Kankuro’s puppet room descended into a comfortable silence until Temari burst in with all of her glorious excitement.

“Gah!” Kankuro hissed when one of the knives nicked him, thankfully his body was conditioned to be fully immune to the poison he was using, “Don’t you know how to knock, jan!”

Temari took in the sight of her two younger brothers and stomped the warm feeling rising in her before she spoke again, “Baki, asked if we were planning on taking the chunin exams for real this next time coming up.”

“Tch, yeah whatever.” Kankuro shrugged and turned back his puppet.

“Gaara?” Temari turned her hypnotizing green eyes to her baby brother.

“...Aa.” Gaara answered. He wanted to be chunin and maybe...he’d get to see Naruto and his precious friends again.


	12. Practically Adult...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke's mental state continues to decline, and Tsunade and Jiraiya recall a fragile memory surrounding Orochimaru.

“Maa, maa, what’s with the long faces?” Kakashi asked as he took in the unnaturally serious faces his students were making. It was one thing if it was just Sasuke...but Sakura and Naruto were frowning too?

“Kaka-sensei, you think we can pass the evaluation, ne?” Naruto asked, worrying his lip with teeth.

Kakashi sighed, usually he would give words of encouragement but…

“I won’t lie, the three of you aren’t the most mentally sound genin, but no one can blame you.” Kakashi answered and winced at the down-put looks his students gave him, “relax guys. This evaluation is just for statistics and paper records. Besides it’s just some fill in questions and a two minute mind search from a member of the Yamanaka clan, ok?”

“Mind search?” Sasuke snapped, startling the other two next to him. Kakashi nodded and kept calm even as Sasuke shot up in blinding speed.

What the hell was up with Sasuke anyway? Ever since his brother came back he had been practically docile, which was confusing considering the fact that Sasuke had wanted him dead. But then to top it off, Sasuke had been shutting them out and then randomly letting them back in like he couldn't decide if they were worth the trouble.

Not to mention it was completely out of character of Sasuke to be so quick to visible anger. Sasuke kept things to himself in the prison like structure of his mind.

“Oi, Sasuke-teme what’s your problem?” Naruto asked.

“Shut up, usuratonkachi.” Sasuke ground out and then stormed off.

He wasn’t going to pass or meet whatever expectations the blasted test needed him to pass. He’d be written off as mentally unstable, crazy, unhinged...because all he ever saw was murder and Father’s dissaproving face telling him that he’s not good enough.

Itachi this and Itachi...that.

They had been getting along, only because Sasuke decided not to be a jerk and make Itachi suffer more than he already was. A sort of hesitant routine fell on the two, but Itachi wasn’t really micromanaging so Sasuke still got away with stuff parents wouldn't usually let their children get away with.

Itachi had never been overly concerned about whether or not Sasuke ate three times a day, went to sleep on time, or made sure injuries were taken care of. That had been Mother’s job. And he wouldn’t mind if Itachi suddenly started fussing over him, but Sasuke was practically an adult now. He was the one who went grocery shopping, paid the bills, made sure the clan money wasn’t getting sucked out by greedy civilian politicians, cleaned the apartment, and now hid Itachi who was still a criminal in the eyes of Konoha. 

Quite frankly, it was as though Itachi had never left but there was still a rotten trace of  _ something _ anytime Sasuke looked at Itachi...

“Tadaima!” Sasuke called, taking off his shoes out of habit and placing them by the larger pair of sandals that belonged to Itachi.

Itachi poked half his body out of the kitchen and cocked a graceful eyebrow. 

_ What happened? _

It was a silent question and Sasuke shrugged in response. He wasn’t exactly in the mood to go have an actual conversation with Itachi about something like this, partly because he didn’t have a brain to mouth filter when it came to his elder brother.

“Sasuke, come here.” Itachi said in a soft tone.

Damn, Sasuke remembered that tone well. It was the only tone that Sasuke would ever listen to if he was hiding something. When he was younger Father had never managed to do anything besides reduce him to tears with his loud lectures, but Mother and Itachi could read him like a book.

“Hai…” Sasuke mumbled under his breath as he turned and slowly walked towards his older brother. Itachi expertly curled a finger under his younger brother's chin, from past experience of lecturing Sasuke for some chaotic trouble he had got into with cousins, and tilted his head up so that Itachi’s blank black eyes could meet the much more serene, pit like onyx eyes his brother inherited from their mother.

“What happened?” Itachi’s velvet voice echoed around in Sasuke’s ears but yet not a trace of hatred or disgust could be heard. Not like...that night. Confusing...

“I-” Sasuke was stumbling over words, “it’s…”

What the hell was wrong with him? He had been fine moments before and now the mere sight of Itachi was enough to reduce him into a nervous mess. He didn’t want to admit it...but he still didn’t completely trust Itachi. He was actually... _ terrified. _

The horrid words Itachi spoke to him all those years ago clashed with the truth Itachi had begrudgingly told him at the hospital. And he didn’t want Ino’s nosey clan snooping around in his head and being able to witness his turmoil of emotions he desperately hid from the world.

“You’re hyperventilating.” Itachi’s quiet voice broke him out of his hurricane of thoughts.

Indeed he was, if his stuttering breathing pattern and wild eyes was anything to go by. 

Sasuke clamped his mouth shut so Itachi wouldn't hear the pitiful whimpers he was  _ pathetically _ making. It was unsightly and wretched...at least that was what Itachi would tell him that night.

“Tch,” Sasuke hissed and yanked his chin out of Itachi’s gentle hold. Turning, and almost face planting, Sasuke stormed off into his room and ignored the spare futon Itachi was using.

He could almost feel Itachi’s concerned frown burning into the back of his neck and that alone was enough for Sasuke to start screaming again. It was just like the hospital, just more unpredictable and unexpected.

Itachi held down the flinch a normal person would have made when Sasuke slammed the bedroom door shut and started screaming unintelligible things. Carefully gliding towards the door, Itachi held his breath and placed a steady hand on the locked door to listen to the hurricane that was Sasuke.

He wasn’t really saying anything, just screaming and cursing. At least that’s all Itachi could decipher.

Thuds sounded from in the room and Sasuke stopped wailing abruptly. And then a shatter…

“Sasuke?” Itachi called. Sasuke sniffed, shuffled around and then a low cry fell free from his lips as he looked at whatever made the thud.

“Oh, Mother.” Itachi could finally hear the younger saying. Another thud that sounded suspiciously like glass had Itachi knocking furiously on the door.

“Otouto, please open the door.” Itachi called, a sense of urgency disrupting the usual baritone of the prodigy’s voice.

“Nii-san?” Sasuke called from his side of the door, and Itachi  _ recoiled  _ because Sasuke only still called Itachi that in the older’s dreams.

“Nii-san wha- itai!” Sasuke broke off with a hiss.

What had that little fool done now-

“Sasuke open the door-”

“NO! It’s your fault! It’s all your fault!” Sasuke started his screeching again, seemingly forgetting about whatever injury that had brought about his hissed expression of pain.

Walking back, Itachi braced himself and then burst down the door with a slender shoulder. On the floor, Sasuke cradled a bloody foot with a piece of glass protruding from it in his lap while his other hand clenched around an old family photo of them.

Back when Mother and Father were still alive. Back when they weren’t broken.

Itachi couldn’t completely hold back his wince when he made contact with Sasuke. Unlike five minutes ago, Sasuke’s serene eyes looked chaotic and unhinged.

And it was Itachi’s fault.

“Do I look pathetic, Aniki?” Sasuke asked him with a careless smile dancing across his face. Itachi didn’t get a chance to answer before his little brother carried on, “I hear your voice in my head all the time. Ever since you used your mangekyou on me the first time, and now it’s louder.”

“Sasuke-”

“It really hurts.” Sasuke declared and then, much to Itachi’s horror, Sasuke’s face crumbled and more tears flowed from obsidian eyes. “Why would you do that to me? In the hospital, you said you love me.”

“Sasuke, I’m sorry.” Itachi mumbled as he watched Sasuke violently shudder as tears hung to his long eyelashes and flowed carefully down his cheeks.

“Sasuke?”

“We have some mental examination,” Sasuke hissed, squirming closer to Itachi to stave off the cold feeling that suddenly overcame him when the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. “I...don’t want people digging around in my head.”

“The Yamanaka?” Itachi asked, hesitantly moving his hand to the top of Sasuke’s head and relaxing it when Sasuke leaned into the touch.

“Aa.” Sasuke muttered, “they’ll probably think I’m crazy.”

“It’s just for statistics,” Itachi reassured, “anything they find will probably just be discussed with Kakashi-san.”

“Ok…” Sasuke agreed easily and completely leaned into Itachi so that his older brother had to lean back into the wall unless he wanted a back strain.

Just last month he would’ve attempted to murder Itachi if the man was in his sight but now...it’s like he was his old pre-acadamy self who depended on Itachi for emotional support. The little kid who needed Itachi around for stability.

“Sleep, Sasuke.” Itachi commanded lightly so Sasuke did. Itachi would deal with the glass sticking out Sasuke’s foot while the boy slumbered. In a mental checklist, Itachi wrote the injury as another thing he had done to inadvertently harm his hotheaded otouto.

***********************

“Again!?” Tsunade howled with laughter as she took in Jiraiya’s damp face. The geezer had probably got caught peeping and got a bowl of hot water to the face in response.

The toad sage pouted, internally pleased at the gleeful look on Tsunade’s face. Things would be complete if Orochimaru’s tiny smile was in the picture too.

The random thought of the snake sannin had Jiraiya really frowning now. “Jiraiya?” Tsunade asked, her twinkling laughter dying down.

“It’s nothing,” Jiraiya waved her concern off, “I was just thinking about him.”

Tsunade’s blond eyebrows crinkled down as she frowned. She thought about him too...when times were particularly rough she couldn’t help but think about that raven haired boy who wore his kimonos with more grace then the rich woman Tsunade saw flaunting around town.

“Do you think we could've stopped him?” Tsunade asked, careful not to say his name out loud because ANBU was still hidden in the room and she didn’t want to openly talk about an S-class missing nin (who used to be her one of her bestfriends) less she gave the elder council a reason to have her removed from her position.

“If we had made the effort too,” Jiraiya mumbled, “yes.”

_ A childish peal of laughter rang out as Jiraiya dodged Tsunade’s irritated slap. The white haired boy barreled towards Orochimaru and only stopped when he thought of the beating Orochimaru would give him if he dared dirty the white kimono the snake wielder was wearing. Cocking an elegant black eyebrow when Jiraiya stopped in front of, “Yes?” _

_ “Tch, lighten up ‘Maru-chan!” Jiraiya scolded, pulling Orochimaru over to wear Tsunade had been calmly collecting flowers before Jiraiya knocked over the basket she was using to collect them. _

_ “We are at war.” Orochimaru protested blankly only submitting when Tsunade-hime shot him a glare that promised she’d bash him into the ground. _

_ “Jiraiya-baka is right Oro-chan.” Tsunade hummed, twisting slightly to make sure Nawaki was still practicing his shuriken jutsu and not slacking off. “You’ve been more tense than usually.” _

_ Orochimaru didn’t want to tell her about the blinding punch Danzo had aimed at his stomach before he arrived to join up with his teammates. Something he had apparently earned for questioning the man about the children he was using for his first group of brainwashed ANBU. _

_ “I am quite fine, princess.” Orochimaru huffed lightly, shoving down a wince when his bruised abdomen sank down with the rest of his body to sit next to Tsunade.  _

_ When tears pricked at the corner of his eyes, Orochimaru brushed them off as pollen allergies. Tsunade just hummed as she played his hair into a loose braid. _

Miles away in Otogakure, Orochimaru absentmindedly hummed the same mindless tune Tsunade had hummed to him on that painful day of bruises and flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Happy New Years!~


	13. Shame

“They barely skim the surface.” Was the first thing Neji offered as he walked with team 7 to the evaluation building. The building in question was just a mansion the Yamanaka owned for boasting purposes. Ino buzzed nearby Sakura, gossiping with her best friend as her short blond hair gleamed in the sun. Meanwhile, Naruto walked off to the side, oddly quiet. 

“Really?” Sasuke asked, slightly lifting his head out of the security of his high collar blue shirt. “Yeah.” Neji hummed. The two descended into comfortable silence after that, the noise of Sakura and Ino talking and Naruto mumbling to himself filling the quiet streets of the Yamanaka compound.

“Ima-baa-chan!” Ino called once they turned the curve leading to the large house. An elderly woman with streaks of bright blonde running through silver hair looked up slowly and smiled at them.

“Ino-chan!” Ima-baa called back, “Are these your friends? Have they come for the evaluation?”

“Hai.” Ino gestured to Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto. Neji bowed out of habit and held back a yelp when the old woman grabbed him in a hug and cooed, “So polite.”

“Come on, billboard.” Ino teased, leading Sakura inside and leaving the boys to deal with the fussy grandma.

Sakura let out a muffled grunt of agreement and followed without her usual response of ‘pig’.

“Nervous?” Ino’s voice lowered as she grabbed one of Sakura’s lax hands. The pinkette looked around and suddenly stopped.

“Ino.” Sakura said.

The blond stopped, looked back and took a double take of Sakura. Was she wearing...make-up?

The lighting in the hall they were in was extremely bright, and Ino could see every curve and bend of Sakura’s face...and the patches of make-up decorating Sakura’s face.

“Sakura?”

“My mother punched me last night. Things have been more tense since she realized I was serious about training.” Sakura admitted and didn’t even give Ino time to process before she went on, “Sasuke-kun is too observant, he noticed the slap mark last time so I thought to put make-up on this time.”

It was a good idea. Uchiha women didn’t casually wear make-up, partly because clan appearances were already naturally gorgeous and partly because the Uchiha priests were adamant that makeup could get in your eyes and mess up the Sharingan.

Sasuke had probably only been exposed to noticeable makeup themes meant for festivals so he would never notice any light, everyday makeup because he had never seen it amongst his family before. And that was the only reason Sakura had been spared from probing questions.

“Sakura-chan,” Ino clasped her best friend's shoulders, “come stay with me, please.”

“Ino-”

“My dad won’t mind it, I promise. He likes you, sometimes he still asks about you. Please, Sakura, you can leave. My fathers the head of a shinobi clan, and you're a shinobi. Your parents have no say if my Father gets involved, please-”

“Okay.” Sakura huffed lightly as she reached up and wrapped her hands around Ino’s shaky ones. 

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto screamed from the front door. Rolling her eyes in newfound appreciation for Naruto’s loudness, Sakura stared at her best friend and then broke eye contact when she caught the orange of Naruto’s outfit from the corner of her eye.

None of the boys commented on Ino and Sakura’s hand-holding scene, too used to displays of affection amongst the Konoha 12, especially Ino and Sakura, to be surprised or awkward about it anymore.

Ino and Neji led them to some sitting room. The purposefully placed decor and bright lighting seemed oddly hospital-like which only made this evaluation seem more shady. If Itachi didn't spend hours of careful murmuring and reassuring to stop Sasuke’s stress induced breakdown, the younger would have ditched this evaluation at the first chance.

“-for question three just write the 25th Shinobi rule.” Neji advised gravely, bandaged arms crossed and adding to his aura of sterness.

“Yeah it asks some weird stuff about ‘how often do you have strong reactions on missions’ yada yada. Obviously we were taught to be as emotionless as possible so…” Ino clarified, trailing off when the click of a door sounded.

Another blond Yamanaka padded around the corner. Hazel blue eyes scanning team 7 briefly before looking down at the clipboard carried in his hand. “Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto?”

“Hai.” Sakura spoke up. She didn’t trust Naruto not to have one of his nervous rambling fits or Sasuke not to come off as rude if he responded with one of his aloof sounding grunts. Shooting both of them a look, Sakura shot up and trailed after the Yamanaka.

Huffing pessimistically, Sasuke hoisted himself out of the seat and muttered a curse at the back of Naruto’s head when the blond idiot tripped over his own feet.

“See you after, I guess.” Sasuke offered to Ino and Neji who nodded back.

***********************

All of Itachi’s hard work quickly became undone as he watched the Yamanaka examiner slumped in their seat, motionless and defenseless as he did whatever it was he was doing in Sakura’s mind.

The pinkette looked how she had looked when Ino had connected her Mind-Body transfer jutsu on her in the chunin exam, completely unaware of her surroundings.

The examiner had only kept the jutsu up for a minute before withdrawing from Sakura’s mind with a quiet huff.

“Good, good.” He muttered and jotted down what Sasuke recognised as a 7. Probably the damn statistics Itachi and Kakashi were adamant the evaluation was about.

“Uzumaki-san.” Yamanaka-san gestured for Naruto.

Snatching out a reckless hand to grab his best friend's wrist, Sasuke tugged Naruto’s body down so he could whisper.

“You made sure to block off the Kyuu- Kurama’s mindscape?” Sasuke hissed, tripping over the kitsune’s name. He had acknowledged the fact his friend held a demon inside him, briefly thought of Naruto as a monster and then remembered that Naruto was just a ramen loving baka who _held_ a monster. Nothing to fear.

But the flash of red, slitted eyes Sasuke sometimes saw when he practiced his sharingan genjutsu on Naruto was creepy. He doubted Yamanaka-san would be as accepting of the sight of Kurama, especially if the demon’s personal space in Naruto’s mind was found by the mind reader.

“Ahh, don’t worry about that, bastard.” Naruto laughed much to Sasuke’s annoyance. “Kurama promised to keep quiet,” the blonde’s face suddenly morphed into a serious slate, “Sasuke-teme, promise that you’ll keep Kurama under control if something goes wrong.”

Sasuke’s left eye twitched. His Sharigan wasn't strong enough to take complete control of Kurama but it could at least distract. But he hated the idea of trying to control that grumpy ass fox. He hated being in Naruto’s mindscape, hated seeing the seal, the dirty water, the nine tails swooping around gracefully-

Shuddering for a nanosecond, Sasuke flashed his sharingan, a boost of serotonin flooded his mind as the three tomoe swirled hypnotically. 

The sight of the feared red eyes oddly reassured Naruto who squeezed the hand on his wrist and then hopped eagerly towards Ino’s clansman.

The second the jutsu was cast and both Naruto and Yamanaka-san went lax, Sakura scurried to Sasuke’s side and plopped her head on his shoulder.

“Do you think the evaluator will find Kurama?” Sakura mumbled, lips pressed against Sasuke’s high collar causing her voice to blur.

“I hope not, it’ll just be one big annoyance.” Sasuke huffed as he focused on the sound of Sakura’s breathing lightly puffing in his ear.

“Heh,” Sakura giggled, “you think everything is annoying.”

“Especially you.” Sasuke snarked and adjusted Sakura’s head on his shoulder before the girl accidentally suffocated herself.

The two fell into silence as minutes ticked by. Why the hell was the examiner taking so long with Naruto?

A cold shiver creeped up Sasuke’s figure as he observed the examiner and Naruto. Both were too still. Way too still.

“Sakura. Sakura! Get up!” Sasuke barked. The Haruno shot up as she looked around for the danger.

“Sasuke-”

“Do you feel it? Kurama’s chakra.” Sasuke hissed as he cautiously approached Naruto and the Yamanaka.

The pair stood for a tense moment before the Yamanaka groaned and cracked open his eyes. “Wha-”

“Are you okay?” Sakura immediately started fussing, bustling over to a water cooler and filling a styrofoam cup with the chilled water. Yamanaka-san took it graciously and watched Naruto with careful eyes. The blond Uzumaki was still hunched over with a glazed over look.

“There was a cage-”

“Did you see what was in it?” Sasuke cut off and ignored the slap Sakura delivered to the back of his head for being rude.

“No…”

Good. That meant the grumpy fox was asleep or holding true to his promise of staying quiet.

‘What type of weird system was that?’ The Yamanaka thought. He’d seen some weird mindscapes and mindsets when he worked in interrogation but he’d never seen a seemingly empty cage.

The Haruno’s mind was set up like a well-organized grocery store with aisles of memories based on emotions connected to them, but this Uzumaki kid…

“Uchiha-san.” The Yamanaka called to his last patient after writing a five by Naruto’s name, waving off the weird things he had seen. 

All he could pray for was that the Uchiha would at least be semi-normal…

####  ***********************

Nope, if anything this prison setup the Uchiha had going on was worse than the ‘empty’ cage. What the hell was wrong with these rookie genin?

Memories sounded from behind tightly fit bars, but the farther Yamanaka-san went in the bars turned into industrial doors and then nothing could be heard.

‘What are you looking for?’ A voice sounded. So the Uchiha could feel him then?

‘A mission, any rank.’ Yamanaka-san requested, drifting up and down dull looking halls. A click rang out and a cell door slowly slid open.

Tentatively moving into the cell, Yamanaka-san found themselves in a memory of a D-rank.

Paint Yuri-san’s house. The mission was completed with good-natured bickering. All in all everything seemed fine.

Well at least nothing horrible happened…

Drawing back to end the jutsu, Yamanaka-san twisted back up the halls searching for the weak spot that he had come through.

_ ‘...your brother showed progress in this immediately!’ _

_ ‘Darling, Sasuke’s only five-’ _

_ ‘And Itachi was four when he mastered this!’ _

Yamanaka-san was practically thrown out before he heard the rest of the memory but he could still feel the shame reeking in the memory. Choosing not to say anything when the mesmerizing coal eyes of Konoha’s last sharingan user flew open in a brief display of panic.

Sakura quickly jumped forward, snatching Sasuke’s wrist when he started wringing his hands. “Sasuke-kun?”

“I’m fine.” Sasuke brushed her off immediately but let her keep a hold on his wrist when she winced at the sharp tone.

The two sat in silence for just a moment before an awkward flash of anxiety shot up Sasuke’s spine when he realized the Yamanaka was still observing them.

Ducking his head back into his collar to avoid eye contact, Sasuke exhaled harshly and stood up. Lifting Naruto’s arm over his shoulder, the Uchiha glanced at the door at then Sakura.

The three of them left without another word and Sasuke didn’t see the examiner separate his file into a smaller stack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Sorry for the wait!~


	14. Uchiha's Only, Hun!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which my head canon about what happened to the clan money comes to life-

####  *****************************

_ Shrugging out of his ANBU uniform, Itachi breathed harshly as the scent of blood that followed him since he started the mission choked its way into his lungs. Placing his katana down on a spare towel so that the dirty weapon didn’t drip blood on the wooden furniture, the boy darted swiftly around his minimalist room before stepping mechanically into the shower to wash away the harsh scent of blood clinging to him. _

_ Sasuke, dear and innocent Sasuke, would be coming home soon if Itachi had read the clock in the entrance right when he slipped into the house hoping not to run into his mother. The last thing Itachi wanted was for Sasuke to find him drenched in blood, but even in the times Sasuke managed to catch him before he could wash away the blood the younger never seemed to mind. _

_ “Itachi!” His mother called and cracked the bathroom door open slightly so that her voice wasn’t muffled. “Your father and I are going to a council meeting, watch Sasuke for me.” _

_ “Yes, mother.” Itachi responded, keen ears listening for the soft click of the door closing again and his mother’s special occasion kimono swishing down the hall before he let out a quiet huff. _

_ With Father and Mother gone until the early hours of morning he wouldn’t have to worry about letting loose around Sasuke. It was always carefully measured smiles, pushing Sasuke away before the boy could latch on to him, playing it off when Father frowned in disapproval. _

_ At night, when Sasuke would crawl into his brother’s bed because he  _ knew  _ Itachi wasn’t asleep was about the only time Itachi wasn’t worried about hugging the smaller boy closer or talking to Sasuke about things that had nothing to do with the clan or power or- _

_ “Nii-san,” Itachi’s heart  _ swelled  _ every time the title fell from Sasuke’s lips, “if anything happens...you’ll still be there, right?” _

_ “What are you talking about, otouto,” Itachi asked, a bemused tone carrying into Sasuke’s ears making his lips curl into his signature pout. _

_ “Just answer!” Sasuke whined, wandering hands combing through Itachi’s hair that had only been released from it’s ponytail because Itachi knew Sasuke had some random obsession with his hair. Itachi’s eyes drifted over his brother’s form, the pale skin Sasuke had seemed to glow in the moonlit room. _

_ “You know I will, Sasuke.” Itachi finally answered once Sasuke’s dark onyx eyes hit Itachi’s. _

_ And Sasuke smiled. _

_ ***************** _

“My head hurts!” Naruto whined for the fourth time. Sasuke’s left eye twitched, how the hell Kakashi found their whining cute was completely lost on Sasuke. In the rare event that he ended up whining about something he wanted to throw himself off the Hokage monument afterwards. 

“Well someone did just intentionally invade your mind yesterday.” Sakura explained, also for the fourth time. Sasuke exhaled steadily, willing himself to block out the chatter going on around him as the three of them walked around the village.

‘Like delinquents.’ Sasuke thought, because really, the only reason they were walking around like this is because they were avoiding Kakashi.

Now that Sasuke was out of the hospital and the mental evaluations were over, Kakashi had planned a...special training session for them to compensate for the slacking they did in the month Sasuke had been in the hospital.

“Oi, teme!”

Sasuke held back a wince, hoping his teammates didn’t notice the way he ducked into his collar and then let out a sharp tsk.

“What?”

“You never told us what was up with Itachi!”

Sasuke stopped abruptly. Naruto and Sakura stopped a bit more slowly, looking back at Sasuke who still had his face obscured by his high collar and midnight, blue tinged bangs.

Sasuke breathed more harshly. Why did he not want to tell his teammates about his brother? Something about Naruto saying Itachi’s name...sent a familiar feeling, that Sasuke hadn’t felt since before the massacre, shooting up his spine.

“Don’t worry about my Ani-...Itachi.” Sasuke ground out after a beat of awkward silence.

A silence that was interrupted by a familiar prickly chakra signature that was oozing enough killer intent that wouldn’t be noticed by the civilians bustling around but by the three brats the chakra signature owner was responsible for.

“And what are my cute little  _ brats _ doing out here instead of training ground nine, hm?”

Innocent smiles immediately broke out on Naruto and Sakura’s faces while Sasuke shot doe-eyes at Kakashi.

Kakashi made them run around Konoha five times for their efforts.

*************************

“Nii-san.” Sasuke started briskly, abandoning his high collar shirt and white shorts in favor of a dark red hoodie that was spared of the Uchiha clan crest and sweatpants with bandages wrapped around the ankles. “I’m going to the bank, I’ll be back...soon.”

Itachi glanced at him and Sasuke could see a question dancing in the elders eyes but quickly left the apartment before Itachi could even ask. Questions made Sasuke nervous, Itachi made Sasuke nervous, combining the two wasn’t something Sasuke wanted to be a victim to.

The walk to the bank was as dull as ever, and Sasuke just observed the rich people striding around. He wondered if they thought they looked important or superior. One girl’s obi was tilted as though a four year old put it on her but she still had the nerve to side eye his less than regal attire when he brushed by. He knew he should have been wearing one of the kimonos he had stuffed into the back of the closet but he didn’t want to look any more like a porcelain doll than he already did.

He darted and ducked past noblewomen and men and their various guards and pets as the large bank building that was mostly composed of humongous vaults and tiny offices for financial lawyers became closer.

The security nodded their heads politely and let him in the second they caught the dark glare specific to the Uchiha present on his face. More people sniffed at him and Sasuke flushed lighty under the scrutiny before getting a hold of himself and striding purposefully to the office section of the bank. 

He didn’t knock on the cubicle wall before he plopped himself in the stiff plastic chair earning him a disdainful glance from the woman clacking away at her box shaped computer from behind her desk.

“Did they try to take money this month?” Sasuke asked in the form of greeting. The woman hummed, stopped her typing to roll her chair back to look at him completely before pushing a strand of defiant brown hair behind her caramel toned ears.

“Dunno if I should answer that, hun.” She finally sniffed after observing him for a few more seconds, “It’ll all depend on what word you got to offer me.”

“Disenchanted.” Sasuke offered, lips twitching when the woman narrowed her eyes at him.

“Huh, so you can tell jokes.” The lawyer huffed. Their lighthearted tradition of Sasuke telling her words that he felt applied to his life or his current mood was the equivalent of him paying her for fighting off the money hungry vultures in the civilian council and elder council. 

Suzuki Nina had probably been the only adult Sasuke was willing to talk to immediately after the Massacre. She was the closest thing he could get to having family around him. She was the best friend of his cousin on Fugaku’s side. In the rare events she came around the compound, she used big words that Sasuke had adamantly believed did not exist.

After the shitshow and major panic (that had only lasted for like a minute because who the hell cared about the Uchiha-) that had went over Konoha when a group of chunin found the entire clan dead and Sasuke passed out amongst his dead kin like a fallen snow angel, Nina had promptly demanded Sasuke sign over control of the Uchiha finances to her when she heard gossip about the Uchiha fortune being tossed around a little too much for her liking. The 7 year old had done as she asked immediately, not really stopping to think about what control he gave the woman in his shock induced state.

But Nina was a trustworthy adult (a rarity) who didn’t seem interested in the Uchiha finances besides making sure Sasuke was the only one using it. “It’s called Uchiha funds for a reason, hun.” She had mumbled to him as she showed him how to write a check to pay for his first month of rent.

“They tried this month, seemed pretty desperate too,” Nina huffed, glancing over briefly when her office phone started ringing, she immediately directed it towards one of her fellow lawyers without a backward thought. “Tried claiming ‘taxes’...from deceased people, can you believe it?”

Sasuke scoffed quietly and took the file the woman offered him. The bank statements she had pre-printed for him in silent acknowledgement for his anxiety around people stared up at him from it’s manilla folder. 

Millions of ryō gathered from the 136 adults, 23 minors that had jobs, and the Naka shrine decorated the little box at the top of the page. And Sasuke (and Nina) were responsible for it all.

Sasuke wondered if it was a good idea to tell the woman he had come to see as his official lawyer/aunt about his brother residing in the apartment she had helped him secure in that rocky stage of his life. 

Sasuke decided it would be best to just listen quietly to her snide remarks about politics and the fire daimyo and smile softly when she threw him concerned glances from behind her thick black glasses ( _"You look skinny hun, you sure you don't want me to run to the break room and get you something?_ ")

There was no need to stress Nina about his shitty life more than she already was stressed. He could manage on his own if it came down to it.

Hopefully...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Thanks for reading~


	15. Problem Child #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke's officially problem child #1 both in person and on paper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~TW: Speculation of Child Abuse~

####  **********************************

“It’s funny when it’s not your responsibility.” Kakashi sighed as he mustered up the courage to open the envelope containing his genin’s results for the examination. For some reason, his envelope was thicker than the others teachers, although Gai did unexpectedly frown when he read over who Kakashi assumed was Neji’s results.

Pulling out the individual papers, Kakashi internally groaned when he saw extra papers held to...Sasuke’s results.

Great, his problem child #1 was officially considered a problem child on paper now.

_ ‘Concerning mindscape...resembles a prison.’ _

_ ‘Was able to detect my presence.’ _

The more side notes Kakashi read, the deeper his heart sank into his stomach. Sasuke had always been...slightly(majorly) off, but the notes were just confirming it.

“Eternal Rival, you seem displeased?” Gai addressed without his usual exuberance. The taijutsu master was staring down at Neji’s results, eyes scanning the notes in concern just as Kakashi was doing with Sasuke.

“No, not displeased,” Kakashi muttered, “It’s...just Sasuke.” The copy-nin finished lamely.

“It’s Hinata too.” Kurenai offered, swishing her sake in the glass with a dejected air about her. Asuma frowned, pulling the woman closer and then gesturing with the hand that wasn’t wrapped around her waist, “My kid’s are good, just some notes about weak mental barriers here and there for Choji and Shikamaru.”

“Neji’s score was 3 out of 8.” Gai frowned again.

“So was Sasuke’s.” Kakashi sighed.

“Hey, it’s not all bad. The other kid’s scored from 5 to 8.” Asuma tried lifting the mood.

“Which makes it more concerning when you realize that Sasuke and Neji have threes and Hinata has a four.” Kurenai said slowly, shifting uncomfortably when an infamously brutal jounin sensei passed by with three miserable looking genin.

“Anyone under a five needs to have a mandatory physical evaluation signed off by a med-nin, their legal guardian or parent, and then the hokage before they can be cleared for missions.” Gai read off the red print on Neji’s results. Kakashi frowned, flipping to the section Gai was reading from and mentally cringed when the same thing was written on Sasuke’s paper.

“When did these examinations become requirements anyway.” Asuma frowned.

“They used to be a regular thing when the Yondaime was still alive. Tsunade-sama must have restarted it when she went over the Hokage files.” Kurenai shrugged, tossing back her sake and then picking up Hinata’s results again.

Kakashi could already picture the scowl Sasuke would shoot him the second he was told about these...precautions they were taking with him now. It was bad enough that Sasuke hated being told he wasn’t up to par with everyone else especially over things he couldn’t control, but the visits to the hospital he would have to make would earn Kakashi at least two months of glares and a rebellious Sasuke.

“Someone order me a sake.” Kakashi drawled and then shoved Sasuke’s papers under Naruto and Sakura’s results so he didn’t have to see the official results of Sasuke’s traumas written out on paper.

“We should organize one of those multi-team training sessions again.” Kurenai changed the subject, reaching for Gai’s hand and holding it reassuringly when the man looked like a dejected mother as he read Neji’s results again.

“I’ll hint something to Ino and she’ll organize it herself.” Asuma waved his cigarette, signaling for a waiter to bring a bottle of sake before Gai and Kakashi had breakdowns.

“I just...he’s always so...stoic and angry.” Kakashi muttered, “but his reactions to killer intent are so extreme and he’s always hiding in that collar and flinching when I get mad.”

“You don’t think Fugaku-sama…” Asuma made a violent gesture.

“No, no.” Kakashi immediately denied, “Sasuke is one of those back-up kids in case something happens to the heir...but Fugaku-sama never hit Itachi or Sasuke. Mikoto-san wouldn’t allow it, and Itachi definitely wouldn’t tolerate anyone hitting Sasuke.”

“These clans have to be stressful for these kids.” Asuma decided, “Especially the Uchiha and Hyuuga.”

“If the Uchiha’s were still alive to this day, I don’t know if Sasuke’s results would be better anyway.” Kakashi agreed, passing a glass to Gai and swirling his sake in an experienced motion.

“We can only be there.” Kurenai said, tucking Hinata’s papers into the folds of her dress and moving on to further examine Shino and Kiba’s results. Kakashi decided to follow her lead and sighed in relief when the first note on Sakura’s results was a compliment to her mental organization and not a professional critique on mental flaws.

***************************

“Send them, Kabuto.” Orochimaru rasped, “I can no longer put this off.”

Kabuto nodded, silver hair gleaming in the candle-lit room as he strode away to gather the Sound four and check on Kimimaro.

“I hope you're as fierce as people say the Uchiha are, Sasuke-kun. It would be a shame if you fell into Danzo’s plots too.” Orochimaru mumbled under his breath as he moved to run his fingers through the long raven hair usually running down his back near his waist...only to remember that this body wasn’t completely his yet.

Hopefully, the sound 5 would just be killed. He would only really miss Kimimaro, the other four were too simple for Orochimaru to truly sympathize with.

Hopefully he wouldn't need to send Kimimaro at all.

********************************

“Are you sure you don’t wanna tell the boys?” Ino asked as she glanced nervously at the quiet pinkette next to her. Sakura exhaled slowly, poking her tongue into the side of her mouth in thought.

Should I? Sakura asked herself. “If I tell them, you promise you’ll help me try and stop them from storming my parents house?”

“I don’t think we’ll succeed but yes.” Ino smiled before a thoughtful look came over her, “Billboard, did your sensei give you your results.”

“Results?” Sakura frowned. “Yes, Billboard-baka! Your results from the examination.”

“Oh!” Sakura exclaimed, flushing in embarrassment, “He said he wanted to talk to us about something first.”

“That sounds concerning but…” Ino sniffed, standing up and brushing her purple dress off, “we can worry about that after we get dango.”

Gaping at Ino’s sudden mood change, Sakura didn’t resist when the proud blond pulled her up and started dragging her to some random cafe just outside the Yamanaka compound.

Thinking about it now...Sakura supposed wanting to have a discussion about mental evaluation scores did sound concerning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Don't be afraid to comment~


	16. In the Case of Manners and Ruined Apts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto's apartment was never the most secure place and neither was Sasuke's mouth...at least Itachi could control one of those things.

Humming softly as he carried a plastic bag filled with a few new mesh shirts he was miraculously able to buy without much fuss except for a rotten glare, the blond skidded to a stop in front of his ratty apartment door.

Kicking open the door, for it had no locks, Naruto walked in slowly. Dropping the bag on the side and fumbling for the light switch, a sudden creak halted him.

Eyebrows furrowing as suspicion bled into his good mood, Naruto found the switch and clicked it on.

Sasuke would keel over and die if he saw the mess Naruto’s apartment was in.

It wasn’t the usual mess of random clothes strewn all over or plates in the sink.

No, no, no. Someone had been in here.

Clothes were ripped to shreds, plates were broken, kanji that Naruto couldn’t understand was painted all over the walls.

Cursing, Naruto ran into his bedroom and sighed in relief when he found the picture of Team 7 still intact in it’s frame. Ignoring the torn up mattress, ripped sheets, and trampled plants, Naruto carefully traced Kakashi’s eye smile and Sasuke’s scowl. 

The most important thing in this shabby apartment he had been in for as long as he could remember was still safe...a little scuffed but still intact.

Staring around the ruined apartment for a moment, Naruto sniffed as sobs he had been suppressing for years suddenly tried to choke him. Where the hell was he supposed to go now? 

His legs lifted him without thought and he found himself leaving the apartment with the bag of mesh shirts and the framed picture.

Sakura wouldn’t know what to do and besides she was hanging out with Ino and Naruto couldn't muster up the courage to face her with a situation like this. Kakashi-sensei was off today and Naruto definitely wasn’t bothering sensei…

Sasuke! Sasuke would help him, probably be a bastard about it, but Naruto didn’t mind bothering Sasuke. His Uchiha teammate lived alone just like him and wasn’t an adult. The last part was especially important because Naruto didn't have to worry if Sasuke would let him stay over because he felt it was obligation.

In his desperate thoughts, Naruto forgot about the person Sasuke was holding in his apartment which is one of the reasons he freaked out when Uchiha Itachi held a kunai to his neck after he climbed through Sasuke’s window.

“You’re one of my brother’s teammates? Naruto?” Itachi faltered slightly and Naruto took it as his chance to let out a meek squeak and dart from under Itachi’s arm. 

“Uh heh heh, you wouldn't happen to know where he is?” Naruto asked sheepishly.

Something flared, hot and churning and suddenly Sasuke was in the doorway. “Is something wrong Itachi-” The younger paused, eyes blinking rapidly when he took in the sight of Naruto standing by his window with a bag and cowering away from Itachi like he was afraid the eighteen year old would hit him or something. “Naruto?”

Sasuke gave him a rude glance over, eyes flickering towards the bag and the picture held in Naruto’s hands critically.

“Something happened to your apartment.” Sasuke finally accused when he took in Naruto’s panicked look.

“Ah, I was gonna ask if I could crash here but I forgot about…” Naruto trailed off looking from between Itachi to Sasuke.

“So you wouldn’t have come if you remembered Itachi was here?” Sasuke snapped, “ What else were you gonna do, go to Sakura?” The prodigy mocked, striding forward and snatching the bag and frame out of Naruto’s hands much to the blond's annoyance.

The thing flared again, whatever it was creeped Naruto out but Sasuke just turned to Itachi.

“Tea?” The raven asked, voice unusually polite sounding. Naruto gaped looking between Itachi and Sasuke like he would get an answer for his friend's unusual kindness.

“Sencha.” Itachi requested lightly and sank to the floor to resume reading a book.

Sasuke dragged him out of the bedroom and threw the bag on the floor and the picture on the couch.

“Uh, teme…?” Naruto started before trailing off. 

“Can’t remember any big words, dead last?” Sasuke taunted. Flushing as he followed his friend into the kitchen, Naruto growled at the smug smirk Sasuke shot him.

“Shut up bastard!” Naruto protested, “I was gonna ask why you're acting so nice to Itachi?”

“Nice?” Sasuke asked, cocking an eyebrow as though the word was a foreign concept to him. It probably was.

“Yeah! You don’t yell or insult him!” Naruto whined, earning an agitated scowl from Sasuke. 

“Because Itachi isn’t an annoying, blond usuratonkachi!” Sasuke snapped, “go watch TV or something and get out of my kitchen.”

Naruto dragged his feet with a grumble as he flung himself onto Sasuke’s couch (that wasn’t from some random thrift shop) and flicked on the TV. Down the hall, Naruto could feel the thing thrumming and shuddered again. Whatever it was made Naruto feel shifty, like he was safe but in danger at the same time.

“Itachi has a headache, he doesn’t mask his chakra as well when he has them.” Sasuke explained when he came out of the kitchen with a cup of freshly brewed tea. 

Naruto watched as Sasuke disappeared into the room and came out again with the book Itachi had been reading. “-shouldn’t be reading, you’ll strain your eyes.” Naruto heard the younger Uchiha saying.

Sasuke sounded genuinely...worried? Naruto paused, clicking off the TV and straining to hear the rest of the conversation.

“You wouldn’t even let me out of bed if I had a headache when we were younger.” Sasuke complained, sounding almost childish much to Naruto’s internal glee. Itachi’s low baritone voice said something Naruto struggled to hear.

“That idiot can entertain himself.” Sasuke said.

“I thought he was your friend.” Itachi spoke up, sounding rightfully bemused.

“He’s also an idiot!” Sasuke defended himself before huffing, “don’t change the subject.”

“I’m not,” Itachi chuckled, a sound that Naruto felt guilty for hearing because it seemed like Itachi wasn’t the type of person to grant just anyone the fortune of hearing him laugh. 

“Nii-san…” Sasuke said quietly, sounding upset much to Itachi’s fond exasperation.

“Don’t worry about me, Sasuke.” Itachi lightly tutted, reaching up to take the tea from Sasuke. “My headache is a mild one.”

“Yes, aniki.” Sasuke dutifully replied, although he still sounded slightly vexed. 

Sitting back into the couch before Sasuke could catch him snooping, Naruto frowned as a wave of sadness covered him.

He and Sasuke had bonded through their loneliness and lack of actual family. But Sasuke had Itachi back and seemed quite possessive and attached to the man. What if Sasuke left him and their bond fell apart?

Throwing down Itachi’s book where it would be visible if the man wanted it back, Sasuke stopped in front of the couch. He carefully watched the demon container on his couch with a cool glare. Naruto had a talent of sucking people's attention towards himself, he was sunny and happy. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to take Itachi from him before their relationship stabilized. The younger Uchiha hated to admit it, but he was worried Itachi would probably leave him alone again.

“Usuratonkachi,” Sasuke called, “what happened to your apartment?”

Looking down to avoid the cold glare present on his friend’s face, “Someone went in and completely wrecked it, y’know?”

“No, I don’t. My apartment has locks and booby traps. You have a thin door with no locks.” Sasuke deadpanned, “Just stay on this side of the apartment until Kakashi figures something out for you.”

“Huh?” Naruto looked up, “You never cared about where I went the other times I’ve stayed here!”

“That was before Itachi came back, you idiot!” Sasuke snapped, “I don’t need you spazzing around my brother like the useless, dead last you are.” 

“What the heck does me being around Itachi have to do with anything, teme?” Naruto shot back, standing up to glower at his rival.

“Dumba-”

The pulsing thing Naruto had learned was Itachi’s chakra flared again and Sasuke froze like he had been put in a paralysis jutsu. “Sasuke.” Itachi’s tone was light, but both Naruto and Sasuke heard the warning in it and held down shudders.

“Yes…” Sasuke frowned, partially turning his head to look at Itachi’s figure that was casually being held up by the hallway wall.

“I thought you were friends.” Itachi repeated and Sasuke flinched, a barely noticeable movement, before turning back to Naruto and throwing out a muffled apology that sounded more insulting than it was remorseful.

“It’s getting late, you should get ready for bed.” Itachi frowned. Sasuke’s eyes shot over to completely look at Itachi, “Wha-”

“Now, preferably.”

Sasuke scowled, but much to Naruto’s further amazement, didn’t even so much as mumble under his breath as he went off to get ready for bed like Itachi directed.

“Sorry Naruto-kun,” Itachi apologized much to Naruto’s horror, “He’ll be back to normal soon.”

“Heh, it’s alright Itachi-san. Sasuke’s always calling me names.”

“He has much better manners than that, Naruto.” Itachi pointed out and then frowned in consideration, “...then again…”

Itachi trailed back down the hall without any further explanation and the bedroom door clicked shut.

Slumping down into the couch again, Naruto sniffed.

He was alone again.

*************************

Humming lightly as he polished a kunai that looked suspiciously like Sakura’s if the nail polish chips in the bandaged handle implied anything, Kakashi allowed his thoughts to stray. Particularly to his three gifts from hell.

Sasuke was either in his apartment or being dragged into whatever mischief Naruto had planned, and Sakura was with Ino if the girl’s rambling from yesterday served Kakashi correct.

The jounin huffed, standing up and plopping Sakura’s kunai back into his weapons pouch. He actually wished Naruto and Sasuke were wreaking havoc through the village. The annoyed look on Genma’s face as he reported that two of Kakashi’s genin had successfully managed to set fire to a private park reserved for the elderly would certainly be more amusing than polishing and sharpening kunai that Sasuke had probably already done for him.

‘Maybe I should go check on Naruto now.’ Kakashi mused, already out the window and racing over rooftops as he headed towards the red light district. Naruto’s shabby apartment building looked even worse and Kakashi frowned hard under his mask when he compared the building to Sasuke’s.

The stairs and walkways of Sasuke’s building were kept in pristine condition, but trash Kakashi knew was probably months old was littered around Naruto’s building and the walkways. Sighing in irritation as he opened Naruto’s door with no resistance, the masked man reached for the light switch and instantly faltered when the light flooded the apartment for Kakashi to be able to see.

The place was a disaster.

A flood of rage and panic went up Kakashi’s spine, the words demon were written all over the walls and Naruto wasn’t here and-

He would calmly walk over to Sasuke’s apartment and see if the blond prankster was there. The streets were unusually quiet but he supposed civilians didn’t take walks through the red light district at 8’oclock. ‘Calmly.’ Kakashi reminded himself as he strode through what he recognized as Sakura’s neighborhood. He was about halfway to Sasuke’s part of town then…

“Excuse me!” A woman called, and Kakashi only stopped when she yelled his name and ran after him.

“Ah, Mebuki-san!” Kakashi greeted although he wanted to leap away from the woman and shunshin to Sasuke’s apartment  _ right now- _

“My daughter is missing.” The woman huffed, green eyes glancing up at Kakashi’s masked face.

“Maa, maa, Sakura knows better than going strange places by herself.” Kakashi waved off. Mebuki’s face scrunched and the woman tried to push down a scowl as she spoke again, “What do you mean?”

“That I taught her not to go to strange places by herself.” Kakashi repeated with a lazy drawl. ‘Why didn’t she tell her parents she was sleeping over at Ino’s?’ 

No matter that. Sakura clearly didn’t want them to know where she was so Kakashi wasn’t about to tell her parents anything.

“Ah, have a wonderful afternoon Haruno-san.” Kakashi excused and flickered away.

Great, problem child one needed an evaluation at the hospital, problem child two’s apartment was completely destroyed by hateful villagers, and problem child three was taking refuge in Inoichi-sama’s house.

This night was taking a turn for the best. 

Not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~I love your comments so don't be scared to say something~


	17. Old Habits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of all over the place, but really it's just showing what's going on with different characters at the same time.

#### 

“Kakashi-san?” Itachi deadpanned when the jounin sensei slipped through Sasuke’s bedroom window. Idly, Itachi wondered if it was a team 7 thing to slip into their members room windows instead of knocking on the front door.

Kakashi hummed in acknowledgement and then turned his attention to Sasuke...who was asleep? “Is he sick?” Kakashi asked, panic at Naruto’s disappearance and ire for Sakura’s parents disappearing as he watched his student who usually fell asleep at 2am and not 8pm.

“I sent him to sleep early.” Itachi answered softly and Kakashi wondered what the hell happened between the two brothers for Itachi to order Sasuke to go to sleep. “Well...he’ll probably be awake in an hour from nightmares.” Kakashi clarified and Itachi nodded in understanding.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where Naruto is?” Kakashi asked as the panic came back up his throat.

“Living room. They kept talking about something happening to his apartment.” Itachi replied.

“Aa.”

Darting out of Sasuke’s room and down the short hall, Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Naruto sitting on Sasuke’s warm couch looking bored, but not as though he had been running from a mob of hostile citizens.

“Hey, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto cheered, looking smaller than usual on the couch. 

“Hi.” Kakashi breezed back, “doesn’t look like your apartment will recover from that mess, hm?”

Naruto froze, “My landlord is gonna be pissed at me!” The blond complained. Kakashi’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “But you didn’t do that…”   


“Doesn’t matter,” Naruto shook his head, “he’ll blame me for sure.”

“Well,” Kakashi decided, “he won’t get the chance because you’re not going back.”

“Huh?”

“I’m sure Sasuke wouldn’t mind if you stayed here.” Kakashi clarified.

“Yeah he would.” Naruto huffed, mesmerizing blue eyes breaking away from Kakashi’s mostly covered face to scan the floor.

“What were you two arguing about now?” Kakashi hummed and waited for Naruto to say something along the lines of ‘I was minding my business and Sasuke came up to me being a teme!’

“I don’t think Sasuke wants to be friends anymore...I mean he has his actual family back so why should he bother with me anymore?” Naruto tapped his feet against the floor nervously. Chuckling softly, Kakashi sat next to his normally sunny student and nudged him with a shoulder.

“Sasuke is still trying to figure things with Itachi out. They might look all perfect now but I don’t think Sasuke really got everything off of his chest at the hospital.” Kakashi reassured, “besides you two have been butting heads since forever. The second Sasuke finishes torturing Itachi he’ll come around and be the same brooding kid you love to annoy.”   
  
“You think?” Naruto murmured. Kakashi nodded, knocking Naruto’s shoulder before slyly bribing Naruto into a good mood with a random night trip to Ichiraku Ramen. The jounin couldn’t even find it in himself to be annoyed when Naruto launched himself at him with a loud whoop.

*****************************

“We should all go shopping!” Ino gasped as she brainstormed ideas for the Konoha 12 get-together that had been getting a lot more frequent much to Ino’s delight. “Thought Asuma-sensei said training…” Sakura hummed as she blew on her wet nails.

“Well duh, we can do that too but no spars. I want us all back by 3 so we can shower at Shikamaru’s compound since it’s closest to training ground 9. And then we’ll snag my aunt’s carriage and have my older cousin drive us to the shopping district downtown.” The blonde squealed.

“Yeah pig, but how will we convince the boys to come.” Sakura questioned. The blonde frowned but she wasn’t a Yamanaka for nothing. “Neji will go anywhere with Hinata without her even needing to ask, Lee will definitely come, Shino and Kiba will come if I can get Hinata to ask them, Naruto will drag Sasuke-kun with us and I’ll deal with Shika and Choji myself.” Ino laughed at the last part.

‘Poor Shikamaru and Choji…’ Sakura thought to herself as Ino babbled on, ‘they have to deal with Ino by themselves with no help.’

“Ino-pig, have I told you that you're a bit loopy.”

“Shut up, billboard-brow! You would be too if you were stuck with three idiotic men as teamates.”

“But I am.”

Ino whacked her in the face with a pillow.

***************************************

Choji huffed as his father stared down at him in concern. “Cho-chan!?” His mother was yelling from beside him, sweet face decorated by clan paint obscuring most of his view.

“He’ll be alright, dear.” Choza declared finally when Choji let out an insistent grunt. “He just pushed too much chakra into that expansion jutsu.”   
  
Madame Akimichi gasped, pulling off the forehead protector on Choji’s head and brushing back her son’s hair. “I’ll get you some lemon tea, Cho-chan. Don’t faint again…” The woman nervously rambled.

Choji frowned, “Okaa-chan, I’m ok. Please don’t worry-”   
  
“You’ve been fainting a lot recently…” The woman carried on, still jittery even despite her husband’s reassuring hand resting on her shoulder. 

“Choza-obi-san, Oba-sama!” A lazy voice called. Choji almost dropped again in relief when his best friend's voice caught his parents attention and gave him the moment to escape back into the house to change out of sweat drenched clothes. Shikamaru’s voice was heard entertaining Madame Akimichi about one of their weird D-rank missions that Choji was pretty sure Asuma-sensei had wanted to cry about when their client almost got punched for asking if Ino dyes her hair. 

His father was seated on a low seat, making the man’s intimidating frame seem more friendly. Before Shikamaru could accidentally tell his parents about how they dumped a bucket of hair dye on said client, Choji pressed a kiss to his parent’s temples before grabbing the lazy genius out of the house.

“What’s up?” Choji asked, because Shikamaru was too lazy to casually walk over to his house at 8 going on 9’oclock in the night.

“Ino’s up to something, Naruto’s apartment just got destroyed, and my mom’s being troublesome.” Shikamaru sighed as he glanced up at the crescent moon. 

“Naruto’s apartment? I thought he was living in the orphanage…” Choji muttered. A bag of chips was suddenly shoved into his hands and he shot a smile at his cloud loving friend.

“Children don’t necessarily have to live in the orphanages if they don’t want to, especially if their training to be shinobi.” Shikamaru yawned, moving to sit down so he could lean against the wall. “I mean you can also get kicked out if you're too destructive or troublesome. Like Sasuke got kicked out his first night for setting a hallway on fire.”

Choji gaped, he knew Sasuke had always been quick to violence but he didn’t think the Uchiha was bold enough to set fire to an orphanage. “Dad was complaining about that for a while because Sasuke was in the academy with us but used a jutsu on civilian property. It was all troublesome.”   
  
“But what about Naruto.” Choji munched, moving to sit down with Shikamaru. The Nara heir let out a huff and pulled the hair tie out of his hair so that the strands fell down to his shoulders. “Naruto hasn’t ever lived in the orphanage. That’s what the archives say at least. He just has this apartment the Sandaime gave him rent money for.”

“Ohhh, so what happened to it?” 

“I heard some villagers by the market saying they wrecked the place, Tch, troublesome civilians.” Shika sniffed and lazily reached a hand out for some chips.

“What…”

“Yeah, they were bragging about it and everything.”

“Is it because of...the Kyuubi.” Choji whispered the name as though he would be imprisoned for mentioning the demon. 

“I think Sasuke said the nine tail’s name was Kurama or something.” Shikamaru corrected. 

“Man, when Naruto told us he was carrying a demon, I didn’t think the demon could talk or have a name and all that.” Choji exclaimed.

“Well that’s what Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura keep saying, so whatever…”

“...Wanna stay over? It’s getting dark anyway.”   


“Sure.” The genius grunted and stood up with a pained sigh. “We’ll ask Naruto about it later...when Ino does whatever the hell she’s planning.”

*************************************

Sasuke jolted and twisted in his sheets, muffled whimpers passing his lips and being drowned in the pillow he had buried his face in. His cousins were playing a violent game of soccer that all Uchiha children had participated in at least once in their life. Natsumi kicked the ball in his direction and Sasuke froze in horror when he stopped the ball with his foot.

Mother’s head, completely severed from her body was what his cousins had been kicking around. Her dead, gray skin was covered in tiny footprints belonging to children but she was still smiling kindly at Sasuke.

“Kick it back or I swear I’ll tackle you.” Mayoko yelled at him. Sasuke glanced up and screamed when he looked at the group of his cousins who were staring at him like he had lost it. Their faces were bloodied and missing pieces of flesh. Mayoko’s skull was completely caved in, Natsumi’s teeth were twisted every which way and-

“Sasuke!”

He almost headbutted Itachi when he jumped out of his sleep. Flinching away from his brother and wrapping protective arms around his chest and stomach, Sasuke shied away from the concerned hand Itachi was reaching out.  He had been punched and kicked one too many times by Itachi and wasn’t really sure if this wasn’t some sick part of the nightmare. It had happened before, times when he thought he was awake but was still asleep.

“D-don’t-” Sasuke kicked out, glancing over Itachi’s arm and nearly slamming his foot into Itachi’s face. The prodigy leaned back gracefully, grabbing Sasuke’s foot when the boy looked like he wanted to kick out again.

“It was a dream.” Itachi carefully placed the limb down but kept a hold of it when Sasuke still looked at him with large, frightened eyes.

“No...no, no, no. You’ll hit me and then leave-” Sasuke babbled, looking around for mother’s head. It had just been by his foot but now her kind, bruised face was gone-

“I won’t harm you ever again…” Itachi murmured as he tried to think about what Sasuke could still be looking for.

Sasuke didn’t reply, weakly trying to tug his ankle out of Itachi’s careful grasp and find mother’s head. He wanted- no  _ needed  _ to see her smile even if her face was brutalized. A particularly harsh tug made Itachi tighten his grip and Sasuke froze when a flare of pain responded to the more secure grasp.

He was awake. He wasn’t still dreaming-

“Where’s the picture?”

“What?”   
  
“THE PICTURE I WAS HOLDING THE OTHER DAY WITH ALL OF US ON IT-”

Itachi shoved the broken frame, that was stained by Sasuke’s blood from when he pierced his foot on the glass, into Sasuke’s hands before the boy could descend into a nervous breakdown.

Okaa-san’s face, practically identical to his, was frozen in a smile. Itachi and Fugaku’s blank stares evened out the charm of Mikoto and Sasuke’s gentle smiles, but Sasuke ignored the hard lines of his father’s face and carefully traced her frozen features.

Out of all the clan members Itachi killed, Sasuke missed her and his tight group of cousins the most.

“Let go of my leg.” Sasuke tugged and this time Itachi let him go. “Why are you on the edge of the-” Sasuke reached out and then yanked on Itachi’s arm. He didn’t know why Itachi was acting so tense. His older brother tortured him, ran off to some criminal organization, made him think he was evil and then couldn’t even be near when Sasuke needed him to be.

“Sasuke-”

“Stop.”

Placing the picture down, and then burrowing into Itachi’s side like he used to do when he was younger, Sasuke sniffed and willed himself not to cry. It was a nightmare, he always had them, except this time he wouldn't have to take comfort in a picture or random trips to Kakashi’s apartment.

Itachi slowly relaxed, it had been awhile since Sasuke felt the need to hide himself in brother’s chest. And that was because the elder thought the last time he would see the younger was on his last day on Earth. But Sasuke was here, miraculously, trembling and successfully holding down sobs from years of experience.

They used to have a routine. Sasuke would find himself in Itachi’s room, the older would keep a careful hold on the younger until the tears stopped flowing, gentle questions about the nightmare that usually caused Sasuke to burst into tears again, Itachi would shush him and then tomorrow morning it was like nothing happened. But Itachi had stripped Sasuke of everything the seven year old thought to be normal the moment he stabbed through Mother and Father, the moment he killed those energetic cousins that got injured in their short life time more than adult shinobi did, the moment he left Sasuke unconscious in the middle of a cold street in the dying warmth of his dead kin.

Kicking the warm blankets over Itachi and briefly wandering if Naruto was freezing out on that couch, Sasuke nuzzled into the crook of his brother’s neck and slipped into an uneasy sleep. He barely felt the gentle kiss Itachi pressed to his forehead or Itachi’s body completely relaxing as the older fell into a restless sleep too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Comment please!~


	18. Quite Miss Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry....but this chapter is kinda weird to me-

When Itachi woke up, Sasuke wasn’t pressed against his side, but in the kitchen if the sound of dishes clanking suggested anything. Quickly brushing his teeth, washing his face and pulling his hair back into the loose style he always kept it in, Itachi trailed down the hallway and poked his head into the kitchen.

Sasuke stood over the stove, hand carelessly nearing and even  _ dipping  _ into the fire as the younger Uchiha fried some eggs. Naruto, dead asleep at the three seat table, snored and then jolted awake when Sasuke flung chopsticks on the table. Sasuke’s eyes turned suddenly to look at Itachi. If the younger remembered his episode last night, nothing in his marble expression betrayed it.

Sasuke’s hand was warm and slightly pink from being submerged in the fire but the boy didn’t even blink as he roughly turned the stove off and balanced two large plates of cabbage and rice balls. Plopping the plates on the table, Sasuke turned back to get smaller plates and two more pairs of chopsticks. Naruto offered a weak good morning but otherwise that kept his gaze anywhere but Itachi.

Sasuke could be freakishly quiet in the morning but was easy to irritate and Naruto wasn’t risking their friendship by talking to Itachi when the Uchiha clearly didn’t want him to.

“Ino and Sakura are up to something.” Sasuke yawned after he sat down. Naruto jumped, almost choking on his green tea before answering, “Where’d you get that from?”

“Nothing good ever happens when those two get together.” Sasuke hummed matter-of-factly, scooping up one rice ball but not eating it.

“I mean...nothing good ever happens when me and you get into something, y’know.”

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed dangerously and Naruto was afraid the Uchiha would throw the plate of cabbage on him but his rival just hissed, “I didn’t mean to set fire to the entire park.”

The two genin could almost  _ feel  _ the question Itachi wanted to ask and Sasuke shot a glare at Naruto, “You explain...since it was your bright idea.”   


“I didn’t think Sasuke would say yes,” Naruto defended himself as he turned to Itachi, “he just nodded and when I set up the smoke bomb tags in the trees he used a fireball instead of a match like I thought he would. And those fireballs are huge, y’know-”   
  
Naruto continued on the story, animating certain scenes with wild gestures and sound effects. By the time Sakura came pounding on the door to drag them out for some seemingly innocent Konoha 12 training, the mood had been much lighter than the mess from last time.

Itachi silently waved them goodbye as Sakura flew around the apartment in a flurry. The girl snagged Naruto and Sasuke’s wallets and shoved them in their respective owners' weapon pouch before herding the two out.

Before Sakura could tackle Sasuke out the door, the boy turned and offered Itachi a small smile. Itachi could only hope that the smile signified a problem in their relationship that had just been solved.

******************************

Naruto was a freaking weirdo, Sasuke decided as he showered in the bathroom connected to Shikamaru’s bedroom. There were four bathrooms in the Nara’s head house. Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, and Choji barely blinked at the size as they were quite used to residing in large clan head mansions themselves. Neji, Lee, and TenTen only seemed interested in the showers but Naruto-

The blond gaped at any and everything in the house. Sasuke nearly cursed the blonde before remembering that his own small apartment was something that Naruto considered a luxury so it was probably an outer world experience being able to step into a clan head mansion.

‘Tch,’ Sasuke scoffed to himself as Sakura stood just outside the shower curtain and rubbed some scented lotion on her arms, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if this is his first time being inside of an actual house.’

Thinking about the head houses made Sasuke want to go back home. Back to the forest surrounded clan compound that always felt separated from the village. The houses were probably covered in dust, but at least Sasuke had blocked all door cracks and windows to prevent the wild from overtaking the houses. They could be reopened whenever Sasuke wanted…

But was it worth it?

Sasuke didn’t answer himself as he snatched a towel, stepped out the shower and ducked the clean hoodie Sakura tossed at his face. The bathroom door was open, allowing a draft to slip into the bathroom and dry Sasuke off faster. Sakura primped in front of the mirror and didn’t acknowledge Sasuke until he stepped besides her in the mirror fully clothed in casual clothing.

“Where are we going?” Sasuke frowned as he watched Sakura comb through her knotless hair. The pinkette stopped her combing, picked up a new loose toothed comb and then dragged it through Sasuke’s thick hair.  “To the shopping district downtown, Sasuke-kun.” Sakura said sweetly as though the tone would relax Sasuke into the idea. In response to her sarcastic tone, Sasuke sucked his teeth earning him a particularly harsh tug of the comb.

By the time Sasuke could run away from Sakura’s rough grooming, the rest of the twelve were downstairs, bickering about how the evening would play out. When Ino caught sight of them, she stood up on the table (“Troublesome woman, get off my mother’s table-”) and yelled for everyone to listen.

“We’ll walk to my compound, get the carriage my cousin set up and have a nice ride to downtown,” Ino said, face going scarily tense when she said the word ‘nice’, “No fighting, no objections, and everyone has to buy something. The whole point of this trip is to change these outfits we usually wear into something more...mature?” The blonde’s eyes darted over to Lee for a moment, “Except for you Lee...you and Gai-sensei seem to have...something.”

“Shopping is annoying.” Sasuke grunted, feeling around for his wallet and scowling when Sakura pulled out his weapons pouch and handed him the item. “It’ll be fun, dattebayo!” Naruto cheered, trailing out of the house with the rest of the group.

“It’ll be a waste of time-”

“What’re you gonna do, Sasuke?” Kiba called from further up, “Burn the shopping district down?”

“I already got enough crap for the orphanage, dog breath!” Sasuke snapped, glowering at Kiba but then going silent as another wave of want came over him.

He wanted to go back home.

Not to the simple apartment, Itachi was trapped in right now. But to the Uchiha head mansion…

Ignoring the questioning looks he got for his admittal of arson on a civilian building, Sasuke strayed behind, stepping into the large carriage wordlessly and sitting between Hinata and Choji.

Before the massacre there were things Sasuke wanted. Not toys or material items but affection from Father and Itachi…

After the massacre, he just wanted Itachi to come back. But he hid that under the ambition to kill the man. Now he wanted to…

Get rid of those bastards in the council, his mind supplied snidely. And go home, fix his relationship with Itachi, and then carry on as if life was fine. He could do that, if he convinced himself of certain lies. It’s what he had been doing to himself to convince his mind that he hated Nii-san for the past five years. The carriage rolled smoothly as dirt roads turned to pavement signaling their arrival downtown, but Sasuke’s mind stormed and howled like a hurricane.

For the first time since the genocide of the Uchiha, Sasuke wanted things.

It scared him.

*****************************

Nudging open the door for Hinata and frowning when the girl struggled to maneuver the large bag into the house, Neji sniffed and pushed down the urge to grab the bag for her.

“Turn it-”

“O-oh!” Hinata offered a small smile as she finally got the bag inside. Setting down the bag containing multiple pieces of clothes that was mixed between both her and Neji’s purchases, Hinata pulled off her sandals and moved aside into the wide entrance room so that Neji could take his off too.

The byakugan kunoichi padded into the kitchen, freezing when she saw who was seated at the table. She fell into a bow immediately, “T-tou-sama, Gai-sensei, K-kurenai-sensei!”

“Hello, Hinata.” Kurenai greeted softly, wiping the cold look off her face as she turned to greet Hinata. Neji came into the kitchen soon after, unaware of his uncle’s presence but freezing when he caught sight of the man sitting cross-armed at the table.

“Ah, Neji-kun!” Gai-sensei greeted loudly. The greeting only increased Neji’s nervousness. Patting the spots beside her in a silent demand, Kurenai turned back to Hiashi and exhaled sharply when Neji and Hinata settled by her sides.

“Your daughter and nephew are exceptional.” Kurenai complimented lightly, the but hanging off the sentence heavily…

Hiashi cocked an eyebrow, silent and unwavering as he gave his attention to Kurenai and Kurenai only. “But the state of their minds are anything but.”   
  
“And what would you have me do about that.” Hiashi spoke softly, shifting his shoulders back so he could cross his arms again.

“Temporary...guardianship given to their sensei’s to remove them from the environment of stress.” Kurenai said, faltering only once under Hiashi’s blank gaze.

“You already have it, Kurenai-san.”

“I know,” Kurenai glowered, “I just wanted to tell you before I removed your nephew and daughter from the compound.”   
  
“If they were the only ones to fail this...evaluation, then that’s on them.” Hiashi sniffed, finally moving to look at Hinata and Neji.

“Well they weren’t the only ones who failed!” Kurenai defended, the genjutsu user quickly drew in her temper before she outed Sasuke in front of the Hyuga clan head, “That is all, Hyuga-sama, we shall be taking our leave.”   
  
Gai shot up almost eagerly and was gone from the kitchen before Hiashi could even blink, Kurenai with Neji and Hinata following after her left at light speed too. It was an obvious fact that Kurenai hated Hiashi and the man’s inability to be a father. He wanted a heiress not a daughter that could be free and not tied down to responsibilities she didn’t ask for.

Placing a reassuring hand on her student’s head and shifting so that Neji could move past her to catch up to Gai, “I’m sorry, I just sprouted this mess on you. It’s not your fault, about your stutter, or the evaluation-”   
  
“I-it’s ok, Sensei,” Hinata trembled slightly, “Really, I-i understand.”

“I wished you didn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Thanks for reading!~


	19. Classified

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke knows it isn't his fault, Hinata knows it's her fault, and Shikamaru finds the answer to Naruto's 13 year old question.

The grasp Itachi had on his hand was starting to hurt but Sasuke focused on it so the thoughts of leaping over the table and ripping chunks of Kakashi’s hair out didn’t overwhelm him. Nii-san was mumbling furiously, trying not to set Sasuke off but at the same time trying to figure out what the hell Kakashi was going on about.

Gripping Itachi’s hand back and squeezing slightly to alleviate the sudden wave of stress that crashed over him, Sasuke stared at the papers in the middle of the table.

3/8.

The score mocked him, taunted his shattered resolve and most importantly made Sasuke want to  _ hurt  _ someone. It wasn’t normal, he knew that, but that’s the only thing his mind was really processing. He just wanted to dig his nails into Itachi’s hand or kick Kakashi-

“Sasuke.” Itachi’s voice was sharp and face stern as he looked at his and Sasuke’s connected hands. Crescent moon cuts were slowly dripping blood on Itachi’s hand and Sasuke quickly pulled his hand away before he could sink his nails further into his brother’s hand.

In the back of his mind it occurred to him that he should apologize, but Sasuke still wasn’t processing.

“Maa, it’s nothing serious,” Kakashi was trying to play it off, “he just needs to be observed at the hospital-”

“I didn’t do anything…” Sasuke finally whispered, “I didn’t do this-”   
  
Kakashi was tripping over words, Itachi was tense and the  _ damn papers were still on the table- _

“No one’s blaming you, Sasuke!” Kakashi hurried to say. It would be funny any other day to watch the man stumble over his words with that panicked gleam in his eyes. But Sasuke just felt numb.

What happened to ‘just for statistics’?    
  
“I’m going to bed.”   
  
“It’s only 8’oclock-”   
  
“I’m going to bed.” Sasuke repeated, rising from his chair mechanically and striding out the kitchen. Naruto was knocked out on the couch despite the blaring volume of the TV. The blond shifted, curling into himself to preserve warmth. Sasuke pulled the blanket shoved under the couch cushion out and then tossed it over Naruto before dashing into his room. The bed was unmade, blankets and pillows tossed everywhere on the mattress, but Sasuke just dived in and pulled a blanket over his head.

Itachi’s scent had already managed to seep into the sheets. The aroma was enough to send Sasuke into a dazed sleep without the help of melatonin or any other sleeping drug.

“It’s necessary.” Kakashi repeated when Itachi just stared at him blankly. “A lot of things are necessary apparently.” The jounin sighed and ran a hand through his silver hair.

“Kakashi-san,” Itachi finally spoke, “what happened with hospitals to make Sasuke…”   
  
“Senbon.” Kakashi answered vaguely. He had never been the type of person to go outing his genin’s business to their parents or guardians simply because it was his genin’s business. “He’ll tell you himself if you ask.”   
  
“Very well,” Itachi sighed, getting up and leaving without so much as a farewell. His priority was otouto, and he was hiding a lot of things from Itachi. But he was patient, he would wait for Sasuke to tell him whatever problem needed to be solved.

The priority in question was bundled in a blanket, face shoved into the pillow Itachi had been using last night and breathing lightly as sleep came to him. Sitting down gently, Itachi offered a small smile when Sasuke cracked a large, black eye open.

“...Nii-san.” Sasuke mumbled, lethargic and slightly zoned out as though he was drifting. Itachi hummed, moving to lay down so that he didn’t hover over Sasuke. “Can we go back home?”

“...Back to the district?”   


“Mm.” Sasuke replied, squirming his way into Itachi’s personal space and shoving his head into Itachi’s neck. Before Itachi could even respond, Sasuke finally fell back asleep.

Despite what many people believed about Itachi’s lack of emotional displays, the prodigy was still sensitive to feelings, especially Sasuke’s. He could see the apprehension and misery take over Sasuke’s the moment Kakashi mentioned the hospital...why, however, he had no idea.

* * *

Humming off and on as he easily skimmed through the files in the restricted archives, Shikamaru breezed through multiple files whilst simultaneously keeping an ear out for his father. The man seemed more stressed than usual and Shikamaru thought it troublesome to go add more to the man’s stress. But there were only a few instances where someone could get time to sneak past ANBU and be able to read through classified files.

They were labeled by missions from B to S since C and D were usually reserved for genin and low ranked chunin. The other section was labeled by clans.

Some clans Shikamaru vaguely recognized as natives to Konoha and some that belonged to other nations. Shifting so that he went down the alphabet, Shika stopped at U.

The Uchiha had an entire bin to themselves, some were dusty but others looked brand new. Just as he moved to snag one of the new ones another bin caught his attention.

_ Uzumaki (Namikaze) 7845 _

Naruto had a clan? 

Grabbing the files that were buried at the bottom of the bin and jamming them under his flak jacket, Shikamaru hastily left when he felt a poorly concealed ANBU coming towards his direction. His father briefly turned to look at him before he went back to the argument that was currently taking place. Crawling beneath the table so that he could lay against his father’s legs, Shikamaru slowly took one of the files out and muttered a curse when he realized it was just a bunch of pictures...of the Yondaime? 

The blond man stared at the camera with a bright smile and an arm casually tossed around an annoyed Fugaku-sama. 

‘The Yondaime was friends with Sasuke’s father?’ Shikamaru tucked the information into the forefront of his mind before moving on to the next photo. A woman with ridiculously long, red hair grinned at the camera as a woman who looked an awful lot like Sasuke rubbed her pregnant stomach. The next picture had all four on it, Fugaku’s arms wrapped around the woman while Minato hugged the redhead woman from behind.

‘They’re married.’ Shikamaru concluded. The Sasuke look alike woman was actually the mother and not some random factor. The next photo showed Sasuke’s mother smiling charmingly while she dug her index fingers in her husband’s cheeks to make him smile. The Yondaime was laughing at the sour look on Fugaku’s face while his wife bustled around in the background.

The last photo, which had a bloodstain much to Shikamru’s curiosity, displayed a tired woman cradling a blond baby...with whisker marks on its face.

Shikamaru froze.

The picture was probably taken the moment the baby was delivered if the fluids and sweat covering the redheaded woman suggested anything. The redheaded woman who was Naruto’s mother-

No one, absolutely no one in Konoha had whisker marks except for Naruto...Uzumaki.

Jamming the pictures in the file and pulling out the other one, Shikamaru damn near exploded when he saw that they were journal entries...written by Kushina Uzumaki.

_ 7/23 _

_ Mikoto is going to deliver today! Itachi-kun thinks it’s a boy but Mikoto wants it to be a surprise y’know. I hope it is a boy for Itachi’s sake but I won’t mind anyway as long as my baby will have a playmate their age. Mikoto and I are best friends y’know, so it’ll be great if our babies became friends too. _

_ I just know Minato will be so happy when he’s born. We’re thinking about naming him Naruto, like in Jiraiya’s book- _

Shikamaru stopped reading right there. It was all he needed to know. Kushina Uzumaki was the wife of the Yondaime and mother of Naruto, and she also seemed to be close to Sasuke’s mother.

Shika wondered briefly if Sasuke knew about his mother’s friend, or the fact that Naruto’s mother was practically his aunt. With the way him an Naruto acted, Shikamaru really doubted they knew anything. He shoved that file back into his flak jacket and just listened to the squabble going on overhead as he relaxed more comfortably against his dad’s legs.

It was slightly unnerving staring at faces that looked so much like Naruto and Sasuke only to realize that all four individuals in the picture and the journal entry were dead. And of course Shikamaru still didn’t know why but at least he knew who-

Naruto would be happy, the genius thought as he patted the files to make sure they hadn’t vanished. If he had at least these five pictures and journal entries written by his mother, Naruto would be ecstatic.

* * *

Hinata shifted under the warm blankets of Kurenai-sensei’s bed. The woman sat up on the king sized bed but was not trying to sleep like Hinata. Her jounin sensei had a spare room but didn’t have a second bed or futon so offered Hinata her bed instead of having to sleep on the rough couch in the chilly living room.

The woman was reading a scroll, wild hair tossed over her shoulders and bandages disposed of so that the woman’s skin could be seen in the light of the bedside lamp. Hinata didn’t really understand why her sensei seemed so enraged every time she came across her father, but the Lady Hyuuga reduced it to a personal dislike of Hiashi.

“Hinata?” Kurenai looked up from her scroll, frowning slightly when Hinata winced, “Is the light bothering you?”   
  
Before Hinata could shake her head the room descended into darkness and the scroll was rolled up and placed on the nightstand. “I-it was f-fine!” Hinata protested when her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and made out Kurenai’s form finally starting to lay down.

“Even so,” Kurenai said, “you have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow. I don’t want you tired.”   
  
“H-huh?”

“It’s nothing to worry about, Hinata.” Kurenai reassured, “It’s really just a physical.”

“...Are S-shino-kun and Ki-kiba-kun having o-one to?” Hinata asked as she rubbed her cold hands up and down her arms to warm up. Kurenai frowned in the dark, red eyes appearing brown and hair tossed wackily over the pillows.

“No. No, they won’t be coming.” Kurenai finally answered.

“Is...t-this about my s-scores?”   
  
“....I’m sorry Hinata.”

The Byakugan princess said nothing more as she buried her face into the pillow and listened to the jounin’s soft breathing. Briefly she wondered who else besides her and Neji failed. She wondered what it all meant. She wondered who’s fault it was.

But by the time her eye’s closed, all she had concluded was that it was her fault and hers alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Comment please!~


	20. Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sound Four plot, Itachi and Sasuke are suspicious, and Kakashi is glad that he doesn't have to multi-task between his two most troublesome genin anymore.

“Will you bastards shut the hell up!” Tayuya snapped as she shifted further in the tree to see if she could get a better angle to look into the building. Jirobo frowned, lips twitching in annoyance as the curses rained from Tayuya’s lips, he had always hated her vocabulary.

“You’re so unladylike-:

“Shut up fatso!” Tayuya cut Jirobo off, whipping her head around so fast that her red hair flew up to briefly expose her curse mark. Huffing under his breath but deciding not to say anything when he felt Ukon’s ugly glare drilling holes into his head, Jirobo went back to watching the back of the building. They knew which apartment the Uchiha brat was in, but the black out curtains and multiple booby traps in the apartment were interfering with their ability to see further into it.

Great. Orochimaru-sama had chosen some paranoid, unhinged brat as their next host. The brat’s sensei would also cause unnecessary problems for them if the Uchiha outed them before they weave their manipulations in time. But Tayuya was confident that the curse mark would be enough to handle the Hound. And worst of all, another orphan was also living with the Uchiha at the moment.

Ukon snorted lightly, ‘That other brat is probably nowhere near Sasuke-sama’s caliber. If worse case happens, it’ll be easy to dispose of the brat and take the other.’

When a tall figure with black hair passed by the tiny crack in the black out curtains, none of the four thought anything strange about it. Sasuke’s description was dark hair, and the morning sun was probably casting a shadow making the teenager seem taller.

Tayuya smirked sharply when the curtains got tugged more securely shut. As annoying as it was to try to coerce and kidnap a clearly paranoid and unstable individual, it was always more hilarious when the only ones willing to defend them were weak morons. 

* * *

“You’re not coming?” Sasuke asked quietly as he watched Itachi sip his tea at the table, seemingly in no hurry to follow Sasuke out to the hospital. The elder looked up, eyebrows slightly raised as though he had just come back from a particularly vivid daydream. “Do you want me to?”

“Not really....but…”

Itachi chuckled once, placing down his mug and brushing his bangs out of his face, “I’ll meet you after, alright?” When Sasuke nodded hesitantly in approval, Itachi gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. The smile fell off his face the second the apartment door closed and Itachi shot up in a fury.

Someone was watching them, and no doubt Sasuke noticed if the way the younger kept testing the booby traps by the window implied anything. Whatever they wanted, because he  _ knew  _ there were multiple, Itachi would not allow them to get. And so help them if it had anything to do with Sasuke. Picking up his mug to down the last sips of its contents, Itachi quickly washed the cup and dried it in the same obsessive way he observed Sasuke doing it.

Pacing the short lengths of the apartment and adding on to Sasuke’s weird trap system that was no doubt created when the younger still had enough innocence to mix imagination with shinobi tactics, Itachi placed one final defensive genjutsu along the window side of the bedroom.

Sasuke was no doubt trailing behind Kakashi on the way to the hospital right now, but something that Itachi tried hard to suppress every time he thought of his otouto was threatening to overtake him. 

He needed to go outside.

He couldn’t be cooped in this apartment anymore, especially not when potential threats were outside and waiting to strike. He produced a casual henge, getting rid of his tear troughs and turning his black hair a boring shade of brown. He grabbed the key Kakashi gave him and locked the door behind him. Under the welcoming mat was another seal that was deactivated but clearly quite lethal. Itachi frowned, was Sasuke protecting himself or trying to imprison himself?

He let the thought leave his mind before any more dangerous questions presented themselves. Deciding to go left when he finally got outside, Itachi found himself in a small, upscale shopping centre that was clearly for middle and upper class civilians if the lack of Shinobi supply stores meant anything. Store owners smiled pleasantly at him, hoping to lure him into their stores but Itachi only stopped walking when he got to a fruit stall. The fruits were still in the crates they had arrived in from the farm, freshly picked and cooled by the shade. It was almost as if some age-old instinct had re-awoken when he picked up seven tomatoes and found himself paying for them with the funds he and Kisame used to sustain themselves on missions.

He strode away quickly so no one could get a look at his face, henge or not he still knew he wasn’t completely clear yet. But it still couldn’t hurt to do a bit of random shopping, Itachi decided when he caught sight of something in a glass window.

* * *

Ever since Sasuke got his first real (although it was really his second) taste of the ninja world, he had hated senbon with a searing passion that made his feeble attempts at hating Itachi look like a butterfly in a dragon’s jaw. But Kakashi sensei had managed to take the senbon out without any death threats from Sasuke.

Missions carried on, and Team 7 luck managed to screw up nearly all of them in some hilarious way, but Sasuke wasn’t fighting the urge to laugh when his body moved  _ on it’s own damn accord again  _ to block a spray of Senbon that would slam into Sakura's unprotected back . And just to his luck, Kakashi was practically half dead from whatever it was he had been doing before he came on the team mission. So hospital….

The doctors, despite their supposed profession in keeping steady hands and perfect balance, were brutes. Sasuke remembered with vivid detail, considering that his eyes were practically organic cameras, when his back arched off the stiff bed he had been placed on as the first senbon was pulled.

He had screamed and cursed and even managed to kick off one of his sandals and beam it at a doctor’s head. All it did was make them sedate him. But the sedate was not doing jack besides giving Sasuke another unnecessary prick.

Sakura had managed to storm her way past the room full of horrid doctors and grab Sasuke’s hand. She yelled at the room to shut up and then shoved the doctor who was flashing a pen light in Sasuke’s eyes that were on the verge of bleeding with the way he was pumping chakra to them. 

Out of the 12 senbon lodged into him, the doctors had only managed to take out three before Sasuke had lost it.

That was the last time Sasuke had willingly tried to see doctors.

And now he was sitting stiffly on an examination table in Konoha General Hospital with his shirt off and a cold stethoscope pressed against chest. Sasuke already knew the outcome of this visit wouldn’t be in his favor when the doctor weighed him and promptly tsked and started drilling him about his diet.

“Rice, fruits, vegetables.” Sasuke listed off, not bothering to specify. The doctor frowned, “Do you eat any meat, or eggs, or even milk?”

“I eat eggs occasionally…” Sasuke winced when she moved the stethoscope to his narrow stomach.

“Do you have any prescriptions?”

“For asthma...and insomnia.”   


“How many hours-”   
  
The woman continued to drill him and hold the stethoscope to all sorts of weird places. Sasuke tuned her out and pretended that he was wearing a large hoodie that he could hide himself in. He felt exposed without his high collar hiding half his face from the world. He would have to settle for keeping his head down and trying to not to think about sharp curves his slightly visible ribs made against his pale skin.

She finally nodded for him to put his shirt back on and then sat at the small desk in the corner of the room.

“You weigh exactly 93 pounds,” She told him and then scribbled something in a file, “that’s normal for a civilian but as a shinobi you should weigh at least 15-20 pounds more, and have a higher amount of protein in your diet.”   
  
Sasuke didn’t answer, eyes locked on the back of the doctor's head as she scribbled something else. He felt insulted and briefly wondered if she knew that it was just as annoying telling a skinny person their skinny as it is telling a fat person their fat. He could clearly see that already-

“Do you practice gymnastics?”

“...Why?”

“Your academy file says that you’re extremely flexible and oftentimes incorporate acrobats in your katas.” She replied patiently, scribbling more notes when Sasuke grunted a yes.

More questions that made Sasuke want to keel over, a blood test that nearly sent him into a frenzy, and more prodding with the stethoscope was what it took to conclude the appointment. Sasuke could only breathe when he caught sight of Kakashi reading his porn in the waiting room. The jounin was sitting next to some man with long brown hair that was styled familiarly.

“Ah, Sasuke!” Kakashi greeted like he couldn’t sense Sasuke’s sweltering, static chakra approaching before the boy came to a stop in front of his sensei, “how was the appointment.”

“I'm not the right weight for a shinobi.” Sasuke shrugged indifferently, jamming his hands back in his pocket. Kakashi frowned at the low tone Sasuke used. Sasuke’s body language and tone of voice all suggested the genin was offended.

“Well...you’re the gymnast on the team so it’s not unexpected for you to not be the exact weight most genin strive for.” Kakashi reassured.

“Whatever.” Sasuke ground out, before turning around and striding over to the front desk to sign out.

“I leave him to you,” Kakashi turned to the man before standing up and stretching, “I need to go check on Naruto and make sure he hasn’t completely driven Jiraiya-sama up the wall.”

The man didn’t answer.

But Itachi rarely ever did anyway.


	21. Unaware

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke and Itachi are slowly stabilizing (:

Konoha’s citizens gambled about ignorantly and blissfully while Sasuke squeezed Itachi’s hand as the pair weaved effortlessly through the crowds of people. Something about the entire setting made Sasuke sick but he kept his emotions in check before he accidentally dug his nails into Itachi’s hand again. They grew extraordinarily long and Sasuke used to take a sick pride in them when he scratched someone. He stopped letting them grow after the massacre because he had no desire to touch let alone jokingly injure someone. 

Itachi looked at him after turning the corner onto a less crowded street, a smile that seemed too light to be Itachi’s was aimed at Sasuke and the younger shook his head as though tired before readjusting his bangs over his eyes with his free hand. The band-aid on his arm covering the puncture from the blood test pulled on Sasuke’s sensitive skin when the boy went fishing through his weapons pouch for his key. Why he had put the thing in a pouch holding sharp objects, he had no idea. 

Itachi squeezed his hand, pulled away from Sasuke’s tight grip and then pressed his key into Sasuke’s hand before the kid could slice off his own fingers searching for the key mixed in with kunai and shuriken. “Hn…” Sasuke mumbled before darting through the lobby door and shooting up the stairs. Itachi followed at a slower pace, the two bags he held in one hand rustling as they brushed against the tight staircase walls. Sasuke held the door open for him, a dark glare twisting his light features into something severe looking when a neighbor came out of their own apartment and stared at Itachi as though questioning his presence. Fortunately the henge held and the prodigy wasn't under suspicion after Sasuke’s glare frightened the person off.

Locking the two bolts, Sasuke allowed his face to relax as he followed Itachi into the kitchen. “What’s that?” The smaller genius questioned when Itachi placed one bag on the counter and one bag on the floor, he would have to mop the floor and sterilize the counter it seemed. Aniki reached into the bag on the floor, grabbed whatever it was and then turned to face Sasuke.

It was a dinosaur plushie, one not all that different to the one he used to play with when he was younger. It had a pink stripe down it’s stomach and the rest of it’s skin was blue, with a lighter shade of blue covering the soft spikes going down its back. It was the length of Sasuke’s torso and about the same width too, so it was quite big. Sasuke took it numbly when Itachi pressed it into his hands and blinked rapidly when the weight of the well stuffed dinosaur settled in his hands.

Itachi’s back was turned when Sasuke finally managed to get a hold of himself. The faint smell of tomato hit Sasuke’s nose and a suspicious feeling came over him. “What’s going on?”

Itachi turned his head with a raised eyebrow, a piece of tomato was impaled on the tip of the knife he was using and the man waved Sasuke closer. Closing the two foot gap between them, Sasuke looked questioningly at Itachi and jolted in surprise when the knife stopped in front of his face. Sliding the tomato piece off the knife with his mouth after he came to the conclusion that Itachi wasn’t trying to cut his tongue off, Sasuke tilted his head slightly to the right, assessing the older’s micro-expressions.

“Nothing...well hopefully that's the truth,” Itachi smiled slightly, looking more familiar now that the tear troughs were visible again to add a heaviness to the smile, “It’s just...for old times sake, Sasuke.”   


“Oh,” Sasuke muttered, clutching the toy more tightly instead of the previous loose grip he had on it, “thanks, Nii-san.”

Itachi’s gentle smile faltered before settling into a relaxed line, “Of course, otouto.”

* * *

  
“Ahhh!” Naruto pulled himself away from Tsunade’s personal space before the woman’s fist could connect with his head. Papers fluttered around the blonde and he hastily picked them up before Tsunade could comprehend just how many of them had been knocked over. Behind him, Jiraiya snickered and offered no help to his new disciple as Tsunade glowered.

“Naruto!” Tsunade barked, “If you’re going to be in here while I’m working, then you might as well organize these reports by mission rank!”

“Eh!?” Naruto wailed, dropping a messy stack of papers as he turned to point at Jiraiya furiously, “He’s not doing anything!”

“Jiraiya-baka, help Naru-chan.” Tsunade drawled sweetly, honey eyes roaming to Jiraiya’s suddenly still figure in obvious murderous intent. Gulping but not daring to protest the Slug Princess’ demand, Jiraiya got up and muttered a curse when he passed Naruto.

“Oh Naruto,” Tsunade paused her repeated signing, and set her inkbrush to the side, “I’ve been meaning to ask, how’s the other kid?”

Naruto squinted, hands still messily picked up papers as he skimmed through people who fit in with Tsunade’s description of ‘the other kid’. “Oh, Sasuke-teme?” Naruto clarified, carrying on when Tsunade lightly bobbed her head in approval, “He’s fine.”   
  
“No headaches, irritability, or violent tendencies?” Tsunade questioned absentmindedly as she picked up her brush, dipped it in the ink pot and then went back to her writing.

“Eh...he’s always irritable.” Naruto brushed off. Tsunade frowned, so the Tsukuyomi was that powerful. Sasuke’s files already showed that the boy had been admitted at age 7, drifting in and out of consciousness as fever and ‘a powerful genjutsu’, as described by the doctors, racked through him. After that, Sasuke’s grades in overall discipline and behavior plummeted so low that Tsunade was surprised the boy didn’t get booted from the academy.

Genjutsu administered by the wrong person with the right scenario could tear anyone to shreds, but the Tsukuyomi was in a league of its own and could completely down a jonin for days. A side effect of particularly harsh genjutsus were displays of violence or complete lack of self-preservation. Sasuke already had the lack of self-preservation if the way he lost his cool and rushed Itachi implied anything, but Tsunade would need to observe him more carefully if she wanted to find anymore post-genjutsu symptoms in the Uchiha brat.

“Hey...Baa-chan?”

“Aa?” 

“Do...did you guys ever really try to get Orochimaru back?”

A horrible silence fell over the room and Naruto was reminded of the moment right before Kaka-sensei and Sasuke got into it before the chunin exams. The brush fell from Tsunade’s hand, this time not intentionally and Jiraiya turned his set face towards Tsunade as though waiting for her to go off. The blonde sighed, slipping off her green haori as a wave of burning rage flashed through her.

“Naruto...it’s best to leave Orochimaru in whatever unsightly way he is currently living. He fell from everyone’s grace long ago.” Jiraiya spoke when Tsunade’s face became more and more tense as the silence dragged on.

“Well yeah, I know he left the village,” Naruto said, “but did you ever try and save him-”   
  
“Not everyone needs to be saved, Naruto.” Tsunade suddenly spoke, “If you can survive as a rogue-nin from a powerful shinobi village then there isn’t much you need to be saved from.”

“Besides, we never knew what was running through his head,” Jiraiya added blankly, “he was always closed off and distant, especially during the war...and then we discovered what he had been doing and that was it.”   
  
“But he was your friend-”   
  
“That doesn’t matter!” Tsunade snapped, demanding voice booming as her fist trembled, “For whatever reason he decided to go break shinobi laws for-”   
  
“So you don’t even know the true reason he left and did all those things, Granny?” 

The silence reigned once more, and the answer preened mockingly in the quiet. Naruto frowned, got up and trailed out with a faint promise that he would come back with lunch.

Slamming her fist down once the door closed behind the Kyuubi container, Tsunade snarled and pushed back the hot tears threatening to escape her. She had promised herself a long time ago that she wouldn’t cry over Orochimaru, but everytime she thought of him she couldn’t picture an evil man butchering people to find out what made them tick. All she saw was Oro-chan. 

Oro-chan who taught her how to put on mascara. Oro-chan that tied her obi for her when festivals came around. Oro-chan who spoke to every snake he came across. Oro-chan who sliced peoples fingers off if they dared touch his hair. Oro-chan who had acted strange ever since Sarutobi-sensei begrudgingly introduced them to Lord Danzo. And then Orochimaru who exploited her fear of blood, and laughed at Jiraiya’s pain.

Damn Naruto for bringing those memories on to her. But Tsunade couldn’t find it in herself to blame the brat. Because for all their claims at being Orochimaru’s old friend they had never asked their Oro-chan exactly what was wrong. 

And now he was somewhere that wasn’t beside Jiraiya or Tsunade. Now he was somewhere, unaware of Tsunade’s sudden desire to find him. Now he was somewhere, unaware that the words of the Yondaime’s son would have him dragged back home.

‘Let him be unaware’ Tsunade thought finally. 

* * *

Uchiha Mikoto had always wanted a kid. Not offspring. A kid, a tiny human that acted like a tiny human. And she had gotten what she wanted from her second pregnancy.

Sasuke who pouted when she wouldn’t let him eat all the cherry tomatoes in the fridge, Sasuke who wasn’t afraid to ask his weird questions, Sasuke who was attached to her hip. Mikoto loved both her children, but it was inevitable Sasuke would be her favorite.

She  _ hated  _ the way Fugaku walked all over her baby’s self-esteem, it would come back to haunt everyone if Sasuke picked up any obsessive habits. And as always, even in death, Mikoto-hime was right.

“Otouto!” Itachi grabbed Sasuke’s wrist, stopping the obsessive scrubbing that was no doubt going to start an ache in the trembling arms later.

“I’m not doing it right-”   
  
“It was water.” Itachi soothed, face blank and stern so Sasuke didn’t dare try and pull away. Taking the rag from Sasuke’s hand while maintaining eye contact, Itachi didn’t even flinch when Sasuke instead dug his nails into Itachi’s wrist. 

“I’m g-” Sasuke stopped as though reconsidering his words, “May I go outside?”

“Of course.” Itachi muttered, watching in faint interest as Sasuke pulled his nails away. A new set of crescent moon cuts littered Itachi’s hand. The smaller passed by in a rush, a flash of blue proving that he had taken the newly purchased, un-named dinosaur plushie with him.

And everything was fine...until Sasuke nearly choked everyone in a quarter mile distance when he suddenly opened at least half his tenketsu points and let out the searing property of Uchiha chakra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a headcanon that Itachi bought Sasuke all of his stuffed animals, Mikoto taught Sasuke how to cook, and that Fugaku gave Sasuke self-esteem issues...well the last one is canon-


	22. Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't get everything I wanted in this one chapter...but I'll get everything in the next one I guess.

Sasuke never thought of the curse mark as anything more than a brand that leeched off his chakra and turned into a more evil energy. Sakura tried joking about it, and that helped for a while until Itachi killing Mother turned into Orochimaru standing atop large snakes. Nightmare after nightmare, until he found himself sneaking through Kakashi’s window at 6am to see if the jonin could get him to sleep for at  _ least  _ two hours. And the mark was calm, secure behind the seal Kakashi had strictly ordered Sasuke to take.

But these people... these freaks hovering over him like dark spirits made the tomoe patterned mark on his neck _ burn _ .

Before he knew, the heavy control he had over his tenketsu slipped significantly and the heat of his purple chakra blew over rooftops. The four people that had cornered him on the rooftop of some other apartment building paused hesitantly before the redhead rushed ahead.

"Crying for help?" She cooed mockingly. Sasuke shifted back slightly, his position arrogantly lazy as he cocked an eyebrow. 

'Kunoichi shouldn't show any interest in potential battles, Sasuke-chan, that's how me and your aunt made it through the war. Reactions that are disinterested can make opponents flustered. You would do well to use some of our techniques.'

Sasuke hoped his face wasn't betraying the furious, painful sweltering of his chakra as he fell back on his mother's advice. "Would it matter if I was calling for help?" Sasuke drawled, voice oddly light as he sent another wave of chakra out. "You're attacking me in broad daylight, in a shinobi village no less. What makes you think you haven't been spotted."

Tayuya frowned, a heavy scowl overtaking her face as she watched the boy leaning back on his elbows as though he was simply lounging. The four of them had him surrounded and all he had to offer was an annoyed sigh and two bursts of chakra?

"Orochimaru-sama wants-"

"I could care less." Sasuke cut Jirobo off, finally moving to give all of them rude glance overs. Sasuke had always fought people based on their determination not strength, and these people seemed real determined to prove something...and yet Sasuke couldn't find it himself to start a fight. He wasn’t even...scared. If these people killed him now, he probably wouldn’t even be bothered enough to fight back or run.

"But what about that goal of yours?" Ukon piped up, blue painted lips curling nastily as he waited for Sasuke to finally crack. 

"It changed." Sasuke grinned absentmindedly, eyes blown wide as he watched all four of them with a trembling gleam. Kidomaru looked towards Jirobo questioningly as Sasuke looked over them with that unhinged gaze that made Kidomaru feel as big as an actual spider.

"You should leave." Sasuke suddenly advised. Tayuya growled, red hair flipping as she started yelling, "Either fucking way, Orochimaru-sama will have what he wants even if we have to-"

Sasuke smiled again, looking at a point behind them.

Another flare of chakra burst out, but this time it wasn't Sasuke's. This time Tayuya never got to finish her slew of curses.

* * *

“Kimimaro,” Kabuto started, watching the kekkei genkai user with mild disinterest, “it isn’t wise to move around in your...current condition.”   
  
“Orochimaru-sama sees potential in this Uchiha boy, those fools he sent have zero chance at getting him here successfully.” Kimimaro objected softly, pulling on his clothes gracefully despite the illness tearing apart his immune system, “it is my duty as Orochimaru-sama’s fulfilled dream to bring him a new one.”   


Kabuto scowled lightly, turning away to hide the glower overtaking his face. What did Kimimaro know about Orochimaru-sama’s dreams? He was just a used failure in Kabuto’s eyes. But yet Orochimaru-sama would rather have him around than Kabuto.

Kimimaro had more of Orochimaru’s trust and affection then Kabuto could ever dream of possessing and yet he was willing to throw his life away to bring back another brat that would get more of Orochimaru’s attention than Kabuto. 

The medic’s scowl worsened when the glide of Orochimaru’s floor length, black, silk robe sounded before the door to Kimimaro’s room opened. “Kimi-kun,” The snake-sannin’s voice rang out, soft and harmless in comparison to the venomous snark he spoke to Kabuto with, “there’s no need to do this.”

Kimimaro smiled, a faint upward tilt of his lips, and stepped out of the room so Kabuto couldn’t hear them. “I’m running out of time, Lord Orochimaru. There aren’t many people who could save me now.” Orochimaru frowned, reaching to grasp Kimimaro’s fragile hands as the boy went on, “If I should die today, I would like to be doing something for you at that moment.”

“Kimimaro…”

“Thank you, for providing me sanctuary.” Kimimaro said lightly, a silent final goodbye before Orochimaru let go of his hands and allowed him to leave the hideout in Konoha’s direction. On a normal day, Orochimaru would’ve followed him. But him being near Konoha just to watch over Kimimaro could probably get both of them swarmed.

Tensing when he felt Kabuto exit Kimimaro’s room and slide close to him, Orochimaru kept his breathing steady and flipped the curtain of dark hair out of his face so that his slit pupil eyes could be seen practically glowing in the low light of the room. 

“He’s going to die, Orochimaru-sama.” Was that a hint of mocking he heard in Kabuto’s voice? Perhaps he should follow after Kimimaro, if only to get away from this abomination Danzo had forced upon him after the boy killed  Nonō.

“Are you concerned, Kabuto?” Orochimaru sneered coldly, smirk tugging at his lips as he whirled around and neared the exit to the hideout.

“I- Orochimaru-sama!?” Kabuto called, jogging after the sannin’s long strides, “Where are you going?”

“I’ve decided to go after Kimimaro-kun.” The snake replied steadily and strode out of the hideout with the black robe fluttering noiselessly. Kabuto couldn’t even respond before Orochimaru vanished.

It would be the last time Kabuto ever saw Orochimaru again.

* * *

Itachi decided right then and there that he would stop trying to suffocate his possessiveness when he caught sight of Sasuke, wrapped in a thin white yukata that almost blended in with his skin, once again lying on an examination table for the second time today. The large blue dinosaur plushie was covered in dirt but was still held protectively in Sasuke’s grip despite the younger's overall intolerance to dirt. The genin looked oddly innocent holding the toy while carefully holding an unhinged gaze on a cart of supplies...like a psychotic baby dragon.

“Nii-san?” Sasuke greeted in surprise when he caught sight of the man hovering by the doorway. Itachi raced forward, pulling Sasuke into a tight hug that nearly knocked the dinosaur out of Sasuke’s hand. “Nii-”

Itachi shushed the boy with a quiet hiss before pulling away to examine Sasuke’s face. It was clear, skin smooth and soft, save for the small spot of blood near Sasuke’s temple from a surface wound, Itachi frowned at it regardless. He hated seeing blood on Sasuke, whether it was his or not.

“What happened?”

“Some losers cornered me on a roof,” Sasuke explained casually, completely indifferent towards the damage that could have befallen him if the Sound four decided not to heed Orochimaru’s orders. “Kakashi killed two of them though. I think they were surprised.”

“There were more?” Itachi questioned, grabbing Sasuke’s chin when his attention started to waver. 

“Hai...four of them.” Completely calm. Not at all fazed. Itachi was trying to remember if Sasuke had always been this nonchalant about threats.

“Do...do you know why?”

At this, Sasuke averted his gaze from Itachi as much as the restrictive hold the man had on his chin would allow. He had no desire to tell Itachi about the...mishap...that had occurred in the forest of death. It was embarrassing enough just thinking about it.

“It’s nothing, Aniki-”

“Sasuke.”   
  
“Orochimaru’s been targeting me. He wants my body so that he can use the sharingan.” Sasuke explained quickly, ignoring the urge to wrench his face out of Itachi’s grip just to spite the man. A brief flash of surprise that was quickly washed away by a wave of coldness overtook Itachi’s face. Sasuke looked back up and blinked when he caught sight of the glower and gripped the dirty toy in his hands harder. 

Itachi let go of his chin after a beat and sighed. Effortlessly lifting Sasuke off the high examination table and setting him on the floor, Itachi trailed out of the room, moving faster when he felt Sasuke grasp the back of his plain shirt.

It wouldn’t do to remain in this hospital when Sasuke clearly wasn’t injured. And talking about Orochimaru in public was the last thing Itachi wanted to do. Taking Sasuke’s hand when the grip on his shirt began to loosen, Itachi decided that even if Sasuke truly did hate him after this, he would get answers from his otouto one way or another.

* * *

Ino grumbled as the furious knocking on the door continued. It couldn’t be a Yamanaka because Ino’s family drifted themselves house to house unannounced just like they did with their minds, so who would be knocking-

“Tenten, Hinata-chan?” Ino greeted, surprise lacing her features but not preventing her from pulling the door open for her friends to come in. “What’s up?”

Hinata shifted, her usual outfit was switched out for a lavender sundress but the faint outline of her weapons pouch could still be seen, “K-kuernai-sensei wanted m-me to tell Sakura-chan t-that Kakashi-sensei is w-with T-tsunade-sama.”

“Eh? What happened!?” Ino questioned as she led them to her room where Sakura was sprawled out on the bed. 

“Ah, there was an attack.” Tenten explained, “Kakashi-sensei killed two of them and sent the other two to T&I.”   
  
“Attack?” Sakura popped her head up, frowning curiously, “Who was the target?”   


“Sasuke. I heard Kakashi-sensei talking to Gai-sensei about it.” Tenten confirmed, moving to sit at the edge of Ino’s bed.

“How come everything was so...quiet?” Ino questioned. There was rarely an attack in Konoha that everyone didn’t know about within five seconds of the intruders getting in. The last time an incident like that had happened was when Orochimaru-

“Was it Orochimaru’s people?” Sakura asked, whipping her pink bangs out of her face as she thought.

“I...don’t really know, Sakura.” Tenten muttered, “But did you feel those random pulses of chakra?”

“Yeah…”   


“That was Sasuke.”

Ino frowned, looking at all three girls before thinking to herself. If that was Sasuke making the pulses, and the intruders were Orochimaru’s people...whose to say that more people weren't coming. 

“We need to see him.” Ino decided, hopping off her bed and sliding on her brand new fishnet elbow warmers.

“Don’t you think we should give it another day before we go visit him?” Tenten exclaimed, surprise decorating her face when Ino pulled her up.    


“Are you kidding?” Ino snapped, “it’s Sasuke-kun.”

If there was anyone who fit in with the kunoichi of the Konoha 12 it was Sasuke. He had bluntly told them he spent more time around his mother and aunts than other men before the Massacre. It was no surprise that his social skills came off as more feminine...at least when he used them.

“We really should wait until tomorrow,” Tenten mused, brown eyes narrowing in consideration, “he doesn’t like it when people harass him.”

Both Sakura and Ino held down winces as memories of them hovering over Sasuke in the academy came to the forefront of their minds. “So...tomorrow?” Hinata asked, looking between the pair hesitantly.

“I guess…”

* * *

Fu had been brought up to have absolutely no emotion. He had killed, injured and destroyed countless people in the name of Konoha’s Will of Fire but he was still a Yamanaka, his mind wondered. 

Danzo-sama was yelling.

Fu could barely hear any words in the enraged tirade but he tried to listen. Something about sharingan...tuh, what did Danzo-sama need more of those for? The incredulousness must have shown on his face because Torune nudged him carefully, making sure their black cloaks made absolutely no noise.

“If Orochimaru strays from the path of his orders, you are to kill Mitarashi Anko even if it results in your own deaths.” Danzo hissed, staring down at each member of the small branch of ANBU.

“Hai, Danzo-sama.” Rang out in sync, and after the slight gesture from Danzo the ROOT agents sped away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Your comments give me life...so comment...please~


	23. Special Person

“I should have you restricted to D-ranks only, Hatake.” Tsunade hissed, waving around the report Kakashi had begrudgingly filled out. “You put bloodstains on civilian property.”

“Maa, it’s a roof, the rain will wash it away eventually.” Kakashi shrugged, sheepishly wincing although he didn’t feel guilty. No one Kakashi could defeat, attacked his students and got away with their lives, no one. The only thing that was stopping Kakashi from sneaking into T&I and finishing off the other two was the fact that Sasuke genuinely didn’t look concerned about the situation.

Tsunade sighed, slamming down the report and shooting Kakashi another sour look before turning to glare out of the window, “Is the brat ok?”

“Sasuke? He’s oddly indifferent about the entire thing.” Kakashi answered, focusing when he heard Tsunade sigh heavily.

“Has...has he been reacting to any dangerous situations at all lately?” 

“He’s been around Itachi a lot so I can’t really say…” Kakashi frowned, “He didn’t fight me when I told him he had to go to the hospital, he usually does.”

“Hmm,” Tsunade hummed after a beat, shifting in a way that exposed her clavicle even though her head was still directed to the thick glass separating the hokage office to the outside world. “Well, I suggest you head down to T&I. Ibiki and Anko should be done by now, perhaps you could do something with the scraps?”

Kakashi left without a word.

* * *

Blank eyes carefully tracked the taller figure pacing along the length of the living room. Sasuke had no idea why Itachi was so upset about everything, it’s not like he got injured or anything, but Itachi had sat him down on the couch and stiffly started his pacing over ten minutes ago. And he was still pacing now.

Sasuke had been raised to be reserved, conservative, and modest, that there were certain figures you just shouldn’t question. Itachi was one of those figures. So he kept quiet while the older paced.

It was quiet for a long, painful moment before Itachi stopped shifting around and sat down next to Sasuke.

“What exactly has Orochimaru been doing to you?” Itachi sighed, brushing his bangs away and staring at Sasuke expectantly. The younger swallowed, fiddling with the white yukata before he looked at Itachi without prompt, “I- he gave me this mark.”

“And when was this?” Itachi prodded, carefully scanning Sasuke’s face for that micro shift it usually made when the boy lied. The black eyes moved away from Itachi’s nose to briefly skim the width of the floor before returning back to its original subject of attention. “We had to go through the Forest of Death...for the second round of the chunin exams. I was…”

Sasuke broke off there, a tint of red creeping up his neck as he turned his head away from Itachi. “You were what?” Itachi asked lowly. The usual ‘wait on Sasuke’ method clearly never worked, considering Sasuke wasn’t accustomed to people waiting on him and he also didn’t care much about honesty and discipline as much as he used to.

The younger Uchiha let out a scoff, shaking his head before standing up. He only made it about three feet away before Itachi grabbed his wrist and yanked him back down. A harsh exhale breezed against Sasuke’s neck before Itachi’s voice, right by his ear, spoke out, “Move again and I’ll have you in a paralysis jutsu before you can even get to the hallway.”

“What the hell is wrong with you,” Sasuke ground out, sharingan whirling to life as he turned to face Itachi. “Why are you so invested all of sudden? I’ve been doing fine for five years now, what is you waltzing back in going to help?”

“I’m not trying to take control of your life-”

“I didn’t say you waltzing back in was a problem,” Sasuke cocked his head, staring at Itachi as though he was examining an oddly frustrating specimen, “I’m asking you, Nii-san, how is it going to help? You can’t instantly tell what I’m thinking anymore, and I…”

The silence dragged on, sucking off of Sasuke’s sudden silence like a famished black hole in search of whatever it could devour. “I’m terrified…”

The two words came out quietly, airy and high pitched to the point where it was identical to Mother’s voice. The boy, practically a clone of the woman, nodded as though completely sure. He couldn’t find it in any crevice of himself to be ashamed at the admittance of fear. Itachi’s aura, his  _ feel _ just knocked Sasuke off balance...or was it really lifting him back up into the overly-emotional person he had always been?

“The things you are capable of doing to my head,” he huffed, looking Itachi in the eyes even with the garment doujutsu still swirling, “the things you have done already. It makes me panic, and when that idiot Naruto wouldn't listen to me in the forest...Orochimaru was there…”

“You were reminded of me?” Itachi finished softly.

“Not of you, just the things you did.” Sasuke clarified. His eyes were clear and blank again, like a fresh coat of ash had been blown over the previous chaotic look dominating the onyx eyes. Itachi brainlessly reached his hand out to rest lightly on the smooth, porcelain skin right under said eyes before he swallowed and finally admitted out loud:

“I’ve failed.”

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, rightfully confused but decided that enough questions had been passed around for the day. He crawled on to Itachi’s lap, feeling too bold to shy away from physical contact. Arms immediately wrapped around his waist to keep him balanced, but the owner said nothing, so neither did Sasuke.

* * *

In the Uchiha Clan, having a special person who adored you with every ounce of their being was a norm. Not necessarily a romantic person, but more a platonic soulmate or a once in a lifetime best friend. Mother’s once in a lifetime friend died on October 10th. She didn’t tell him that, he just knew from the way she sagged and deflated on that particular day.

Mother called her friend Kushi-chan, a redheaded woman who hated being compared to tomatoes. When Sasuke finally got to see a picture of her, he secretly started referring to her as Auntie Tomato anyway. She was beautiful, vibrant and shiny like his favorite fruit. Wherever her soul went, he hoped she knew he wasn’t trying to be mean.

“Sasu-chan? What are you doing with that?” Mikoto slightly cracked open the dimly lit closet Sasuke was snooping around in.

“Nothing, Mother,” Sasuke instantly said, flushing when the woman responded with a faux stern look. “I’m just looking at her…”   
  
Mikoto’s face softened and she silently cursed herself for getting Sasuke attached to a person who he would never meet in life. “Oh darling,” She exclaimed gently, kneeling next to her small child and taking the framed picture from his hands before placing it back in the box she always kept it in, “It’s best to let these things go...especially with people like Kushi-chan, she was so brave. So, so brave.”

They sat in silence for a moment, the six year old gently wrapped in a snug embrace and Mikoto silently wilting at the ghost of red hair whipping around in suppressed memories.

“Natsumi is waiting for you, she's really excited you have time to play today” Mikoto whispered into Sasuke’s dark hair, a clear attempt at trying to get both of them out of this closet but neither parent or child moved.

Everyone in the Uchiha Clan had their special person, ranging from siblings to the weird companion you met on missions, but it was always best to have another person willing to hear about this special person.

**Author's Note:**

> ~Thanks for reading!~


End file.
